beyond music
by Asakami
Summary: Anna, a middle-class 'commoner', earns a scholarship into a certain renowned, prestigious school. Things are going to work out just fine—doing well in school isn't difficult, she doesn't have to care about the rich kids, and the rich kids don't seem to care about her—that is, until she accidentally knocks over some eighty-thousand dollar vase. Inspired by Ouran. AU. Elsa/Anna.
1. the third music room

**disclaimer: **FROZEN story&amp;characters © DISNEY  
**warning: **rich people stereotypes exaggerated, 'commoner' problems exaggerated, eventual smut, etc.

**a/n: i** had a dream about this idea just 20 minutes ago most likely because I recently rewatched ouran high school host club. I NEED TO _NEED TO _PUT THIS OUT HERE. BTW, if you have never heard of ouran, you should seriously check it out! but _**do not**_ watch the abomination that is the live-action. only watch the anime.

please. i'm serious. like actually. only watch the anime.

also, i highly suggest googling images of how ouran academy looks like. it would really help!

enjoy!

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_**beyond music  
**_**(I – the third music room)**

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"Ugh… damn it…" Anna, the young, fifteen-year old redhead muttered under her breath. She shut the door to the _twentieth_ (she counted) empty room she had stumbled upon for the day. "How—" she stomped her way down the hall, swung open the next room, "—hard—" only to find it empty, "—can it—" so she slammed the door shut, "—be—" and then headed to the next, "—to find—" opened it, "—the FREAKING—" gave up, "—LIBRARY?!"

She huffed, blowing upwards at the bangs that had gone out of place from her pent-up frustration. But then she remembered—getting pissed off over something like this wasn't going to help her future in any way. So she breathed out, holding the textbooks closer to her chest.

_Inhale, exhale_. "Keep your cool, Anna… keep your cool. It's only the first week of school and you're already acting like an idiot…" she straightened herself up and turned to exit the room. Despite calming down, there was no deny that she was still ticked off. Like, what did she have to give to find the _library_? In such a big-waste-of-space of a school, the library was bound to be huge enough to spot from a mile away, right?

_Nope!_—her mind answered for her.

Anna scoffed. She would roll her eyes, but she figured it'd look ridiculous because she'd be rolling her eyes at herself. Not that she'd never done it before. But, like, still.

_God. _Now she was angry for rolling her eyes. At herself. _What the hell._

Eventually, she came to a door that wasn't any different from the others. There, however, an addition of a black sign nailed above the door, titled in gold, '_Third Music Room'_.

Anna raised a brow. "… Third? How many music rooms are there in this school?"—it was a thought. But she ended up speaking out loud.

"I believe there are twelve," a voice behind her said.

The redhead spun around, accidentally dropping a few books at the sudden movement.

"Oh!" the owner of the voice acted immediately, bending down to retrieve the fallen items. "My apologies, I did not mean to frighten you."

_Wow, that's the whitest, smoothest looking hair I've ever—_

Anna shook her head, snapping herself out of her thoughts. "Uh, er… no! I'm sorry for… uh, talking to myself," she bent down as well to help.

"No worries," the stranger chuckled. She placed the books into the redhead's hands.

They stood up together, and the redhead could tell right away that the white-haired—no, _platinum blonde _was a few inches taller. Her hairdo was very French-like, braided in a crown-twist bun at the back. And she had really blue eyes. _Like, wow. Holy, god damn. Those eyes. _

Anna shook her head.

_Uh_, and… she was wearing a blue tie, which meant she was a senior. Anna didn't really understand the hierarchy system in the rich-people-world, but she was told that it was quite strict. So, she decided to roll with it. "Um, I… I would like to thank thine kindness for… aiding me in, er, retrieving my… _documents_." She stuttered out the words as if English weren't her first language and then lowered her head slightly—that was how the subordinates spoke to their higher-ups, so…

_Chortle_

… she looked up, blinking a few times before realizing that the taller girl was covering her lips with a hand.

"At ease, young miss," the platinum blonde smiled.

Funny, it seemed like she was enjoying herself as she spoke. Anna kept her brow arched, but continued on with the respects out of uncertainty. "Um, y-yes, your… _grace_?"

And then a full-on laughter erupted from the taller girl. This time, she held onto her stomach, not even bothering to hide any longer.

The redhead was more so confused than annoyed. Well, how could she possibly be _annoyed _at such a beautiful sound? It sounded like music! Utterly adorable! And if she had a mirror right now, she'd see that she was blushing to it.

"I'm sorry…" the platinum blonde laughed, "… it's just strange to have someone other than my friends call me that," she cleared her throat. "It's all in good humour, though. I'm sure you're just playing around."

_Huh…?_

"Oh, pardon me, I have yet to introduce myself," she reached a hand out, "My name is…" but then she paused, as she realized that the shorter girl had no way to take it as she was carrying some heavy _documents. _So she walked on ahead to reach for the door to the _third music room_. "This way. You can put your books inside and I can give you a map around the school. I assume that you're new here and got lost?"

Took a moment, but Anna eventually registered that the blonde was speaking to her. "Um, er, yes! This is my first year at Arendelle High School, and I'm still trying to find my way around… your grace."

The senior chuckled. "Ah, first year. Does that explain why you are not wearing the school uniform?"

Anna looked down at herself—plain, casual, everyday-outfit for a teenage girl—completed with a red plaid shirt and navy blue skinny jeans with a pair of white converse. "O-oh no, I just…" she moved a finger up to scratch her cheek, "… didn't find it necessary to invest in the uniform. I mean, I'm just here to study so that I'd get into a good university in the future… to earn money. So wasting money now to study doesn't really make sense, y'know? Oh! I-I mean, your grace."

The smile never left the platinum blonde's lips. She walked deeper into the huge room, up to a Victorian-looking desk in front of the ceiling-to-floor window, and pulled open a drawer. "That's an interesting way to see things,"

As the senior performed the actions, Anna took the opportunity to take a glance around the room. Typical designs, much like the rest of the empty rooms she'd visited so far—pink walls, clean, cream-coloured marble floors that reflected everything like water. Oh, the only difference with this room was that there was a slightly-fancier-chandelier (_pft_) hanging from the high ceiling.

Bored of interior design-admiring, Anna turned her attention back to the senior. She observed closely. Not at the actions, per se, but at the girl. The way she moved was poised, regal, and extremely lady-like. If anything, this senior looked like she belonged to the Royal Family. Just look at how majesty she acts!

_Do all rich people move like this? Because if I had to do it consistently, I'd kill myself._

"So," the blonde searched through the drawer, "Which music room were you looking for?"

The younger girl stepped up to the senior. The room was incredibly empty—it only consisted of that one desk and, _like the rest of the rooms in this rich-ass school, _a chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. Placing her books carefully onto the desk (as her arms were really starting to get tired), she fiddled with her fingers. "Um, well… I'm not actually looking for a music room…"

The blonde raised her head. "Oh? Then… do you mind telling me what it is that you are looking for? I'll try to assist you in any way I can."

This senior sounded like she was genuinely concerned. Not really like most of the snobby kids in her class, Anna thought. But, well, it was still too early to define her classmates as 'snobby'—it had only been one week. Perhaps if she spent more time with them, she'd find their inner beauty?

_Heh. Inner beauty. _

… Yeah! Why not? Just like this girl—she seemed to be nice and helpful and beautiful and—

"AAH! THIS IS SO FREAKING HEAVY!"—a voice from behind startled the two. The door slammed open—"Damn it, Herc, give me a hand!" A young male—_blue tie, another senior—_with chestnut-brown hair walked in.

Anna couldn't really see his face as he was carrying a fairly large glass vase… _thing_ and was struggling to balance his steps.

"Alright, alright," a green-tie _(junior_) male walked in.

This one Anna could see clearly—bright auburn hair that almost appeared to be orange; tall and lean, muscular (_like, really muscular_) body… he could dress up as a Greek god and would easily pass by as one.

The Greek god—_er, _the boy by the name of _Herc _took the vase from the brunette's arms like it was made out of paper, "Where should we put this?"

"Here is fine," the platinum blonde said.

A gasp, and then, "Oh, my Queen, you have beaten us to this room! Our deepest apologies for our tardiness!" the brunette flared dramatically.

_Q-queen…? _Anna glanced behind her at the senior, eyes wide. _So she really is royalty?!_

With a bemused smirk on her face, the platinum blonde rolled her eyes. "Where are the others?" she directed her question at the orange-haired boy.

"They're picking up the other stuff," he answered as he set the vase onto the table.

Anna took a step back—it seemed like she would only get in the way of these _bluebloods_.

"Hm, may I ask why you two decided to bring _this _over first, when there are far more important things to move?" the platinum blonde gestured at the vase and then crossed her arms.

"There is a legitimate answer to your question, your grace!" the brunette spoke up once again. He pranced his way closer to the desk, until he was right beside the taller, orange-haired boy. "You see, when one's eyes are set onto one thing, they are set _onto one thing. _Hence, when I spotted this elegant vase, a strong, magnetic force pulled me to it—as if it was telling me, '_Master Fitzherbert, please take me! I must go wherever you go!_'—and then I gave in to its tempting words and—"

"Eugene…" the blonde dragged on her voice—she was losing both interest and patience.

"Heh," he smirked. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he went on, shrugging, "I guess I just didn't want to stay in that old, stuffy room any longer. Gotta make up an excuse, y'know?"

Anna eyebrows scrunched together. _Okay, now I'm confused. _One minute, this _Eugene-_guy was speaking politely to the _Queen_, and the next, he was throwing away all respect and was speaking rudely—_er… _normally! How did that work…?

"You should be glad Rapunzel isn't here," the orange-haired boy added.

"Pft, yeah," Eugene chuckled, "If she were, I'd be missing a limb by now."

"… who's missing a limb?"—another voice from behind the door; this time, a girl.

Everyone in the room turned to the sound, and Eugene was, _unsurprisingly_, the first to speak out, "Rapunzel!" he called and ran to help open the door.

"Ugh… thanks," a golden-blonde girl with gleaming emerald eyes entered. She was carrying a box full of papers that seemed to look like parchments—like they were manuscripts of some important business or whatever. Anyway, Anna was starting to get an existence-complex; was she so insignificant that these rich kids were seeing her as an invisible pillar?

"Is this all?" the Queen spoke up. She walked around the desk to look into the box of papers that was set down.

The golden-blonde nodded, "Mhmm!" and fixed her tie—

_Blue. Senior._

—she continued, "Adam and Kristoff are on their way with the laptops. We're going to have to hire some people to set up more tables if we're really going to work here!" the girl glanced around the empty room. "We should have some sofas right there, maybe even a coffee table—_oh! _Speaking of coffee, we should really put a coffee maker here! That would be fantastic! Just think of the time we'll save from walking to the cafeteria—"

"Rapunzel, we'll focus on the details later," the platinum blonde interrupted. She held a hand at her hip, "Right now, I just want to make sure everything important is here. We need to start planning for the next event."

"Yes, your grace!" Rapunzel saluted enthusiastically. She skipped happily to the window behind the desk. "It's such a great idea you decided to move rooms! This one's so much brighter and has _such _a nice view. Come, look! You can see the entire courtyard from here! Hey, is that Aurora and Phillip down there by the fountain? Oh, I _knew _they had a thing!"

…

_This… _this was too much for Anna to handle. At this point, she didn't even know if she should go back to pick up her textbooks on the desk, let alone ask for directions. Maybe if she slipped out quietly… _oh, no, _she couldn't do that! Those textbooks costed a fortune! Besides, if she just left them here, how was she going to study? No matter what, she _had _to get her hands back on those books. Maybe if she asked nicely? _Okay, maybe. _She only needed to try—"Um, excuse—"

"Guys! Guys! Help us out!"—yet another voice came from behind the entrance to the room.

_Gee, why couldn't they just use the other rooms? I mean, they all look the freaking same anyway. It **has** to be this... 'third music room'. _

A messy dark-blonde boy wearing a green tie walked in. He was carrying several laptops in his arms, which looked quite heavy. Anna was kind of feeling scared for him. _What if he drops them…?_

"Whoa, Kristoff! You trying to look heroic or something?" Herc laughed and immediately ran over to help the blonde boy out.

"No, man… you should look at Adam," he threw a thumb over his shoulder. "He's carrying way more than I am,"

Just then, another young male with a green tie walked in through the door. He was tall—_much taller than Herc, though less bulky—_and had long, light brown hair, swept back and tied in a ponytail. He, too, was carrying a bunch of laptops in his arms.

"Oh, jeez! You guys, put those down already! You're going to break your backs carrying such heavy stuff. Eugene, go help out!" Rapunzel ordered.

The male in question sighed and responded sarcastically, "Yes, m'lady."

"Good! Let's set the stuff on the desk first…"

Anna had to be honest; these guys were like an ensemble of the most-super of the supermodels gathered to take the ultimate photo shoot for some high-end fashion magazine. Seriously, minus the fact that they all looked so _important _and _precious _and _expensive, _they were ultimately a very handsome bunch. Maybe it had something to do with the school uniform? Black suit jacket with silver lines decorating the edge of the lapels and the school crest sewn on the left chest; white dress shirt on the inside; a blue, green, or red tie depending on school year; grey dress pants (girls would have skirts that reached the lower thighs) with black plaid patterns, completed with black leather shoes. Seeing these people wear the uniform so elegantly sparked something within Anna—almost like… she wanted to jump onto the wagon and be _good-looking _as well.

_Sigh. If only._

"… and then we'll get more mahogany tables! Ooh, I love anything that looks antique!"

Apparently, Rapunzel was still going on about the decorations of the room.

"Well? What do you think, your grace?" the golden-blonde girl clasped her hands together. Fluttering her eyelids, she looked at the Queen with anticipation pouring out of her eyes.

"I think," the platinum blonde reverted to her crossing-arms-stance, and then she turned to the redhead, "… I need to deal with our guest here, first."

Anna blinked.

"Pardon our rudeness—we are currently in the state of moving rooms, you see," she explained patiently. "I'm also sorry to have kept you waiting. Now, where…"

"BY THE GODS!"

Anna gritted her teeth and nearly had to slap her hands on her ears.

"Who is _that_?!"

Emphasis on the word, _that. _Anna would've found the intonation to be rude if she weren't so fazed by the loud sound. So, all she could do right now was glare at Eugene.

The platinum blonde turned back to look at the redhead. "… That's a very good question. I have yet to ask for her name."

"Uh, I'm uh…" said girl stuttered.

"Anna Rachel Irving. First year. Homeroom 1B." Kristoff spoke up with his arms crossed, "Earned a scholarship to enter Arendelle Academy as a high school student; not particularly interested in communicating with classmates, spent first few days of school at the bookstore, searching for textbooks…" he paused to glance at the redhead from head to toe, "… has an odd sense of fashion, is mildly attractive—"

"Hey!" Rapunzel barked. She ran up to the junior and knocked him hard on the head with a fist, "It's not nice to say that to a girl!"

"It's my job, Rapunzel! I'm supposed to be the guy who knows _everything _in this school, remember?"

"Yeah, but you don't have to blurt out your personal opinions!"

Herc walked up to pull the two apart. "Quit it, you two. You're scaring our guest!"

Anna swallowed. _Yep, these guys are attractive, but they definitely act like snobs. _She glanced at the Queen for a brief second and instinctively thought—_maybe except for you, but still—_"I'm…" she took a small step back towards the desk and reached for her books, "… just going to leave now…"

"_Whaaaat_? You're leaving already?" Rapunzel whined.

Anna faked a chuckle. "Y-yes, I, uh… have to get back to studying…"

"It's incredible that you were able to earn a scholarship in the commoner world to enter this school, Miss Irving!"

_It's incredible that you're able to change topics so quickly_, Anna thought. She feigned some more laughter as she tucked the books securely in her arms. Right when she was about to turn around to head for the door, a certain brunette moved forth to obstruct her view.

"Is this hair colour natural?" Eugene took hold of a pigtail and observed intently, "… It's the most beautiful copper-coloured hair I've ever seen! And this streak of white, it certainly can't be—"

Anna shrieked. She backed up until her rear hit the edge of the desk.

"Eugene, you're scaring her! Poor girl…" Rapunzel stepped forward to cup the redhead's cheeks. Then she, too, came in _really _close. "But I gotta say, Miss Irving, I'm in love with your pigtails! And, oh my goodness! You have a lot of freckles. It makes you look really cute!"

_Too close… too close…!_

A full-on blush was spreading across her face by now. Anna could feel steam coming out of the top of her head. "Th-thank you…" she managed to squeak out a response.

… And Rapunzel was having her merry time, squishing Anna's pink cheeks as if she were playing with a baby. "Your skin's really nice too! What products do you use for cleansing?"

_Oh god oh god oh god! _Her personal space had long been breached; right now, Anna simply wanted to disappear. She leaned back, so as to get far away from the golden-blonde's touch—only to have the latter lean forward even more, so she could only move farther…

Eugene, meanwhile, wasn't far behind. He walked up beside Rapunzel and then reached to tug at the end of Anna's shirt, feeling the material. "Hmm, this material seems cheap. But I guess that's what you can get for a commoner product, huh?"

Herc rolled his eyes. "Man, I think you're getting influenced by your parents."

"No, I'm not!" Eugene grunted. It seemed like he was agitated, because what he did next was beyond Anna's comprehension of what a normal male would do— "But just look at this! The cotton material is so cheap it can easily give people with sensitive skin bad reactions! I bet if I…"—he pulled at the hem of the redhead's shirt, lifting it higher and higher until the girl's hipbones were revealed—

Anna gasped. She dropped her books, letting them scatter onto the floor and attempted to pull her shirt down.

"Come on, don't be shy!"

"That's sexual harassment," the most quiet, most normal-behaving student (so far) of the bunch (_and Anna mentally recalled that his name was Adam_) spoke up.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel snapped at the brunette.

"But, Rapunzel! I'm just trying to prove my point! Look at this!"

"No excuses! What you're doing right now is highly inappropriate!" she released one of Anna's cheeks to reach over to pull onto the brunette's.

"Ow ow ow! Rapunzel, stop!" and Eugene pushed a palm into the golden-blonde's face.

"Stop touching my face! You're going to mess up my makeup!"

"Then let go of me!"

"Man…" Kristoff shook his head, hiding his face with a palm, shameful. "I can't believe they're seniors."

Sighing, the Queen looked over to Herc, "Do you mind?"

The orange-haired boy nodded. "On it, your grace." He grabbed hold of Eugene's arm with one hand and Rapunzel's shoulder with the other, "Alright, you two, knock it off or our Queen's gonna be pissed!"

"Why don't you say that to _her_?" Eugene growled, pushing even harder at Rapunzel's face now.

Note, his other hand was still on Anna's shirt—where he was pulling it higher and higher as they spoke. And as her shirt went higher, she leaned back more.

Rapunzel stood her ground. With all her strength and attention focused on her hands, not only did she pinch Eugene's cheek harder, but Anna's as well.

By now, the redhead was tearing and squeaking in pain. "P-please stop…!" But she knew, it wasn't like making any coherent noise would stop these two, anyway. They were in their own world! _God help them if they ever become husband and wife, _Anna thought as she threw her head back to gasp for air and then she felt like she had hit something—

_Wait._

—summoning all the adrenaline she had in her body, Anna broke free from the two devils' grasp—

_Something was wobbling on the desk_

—and she turned around just in time to see—

_Oh no. Oh no no no no no no NO!_

—the vase falling, as if mocking her, in slow-motion. Like it was screaming '_catch me if you can!'_ and so she tried (she really did), reaching out just in time to graze the handle with her fingertips before—

_CLANG_

"…"

Her mouth hung open. Her body was frozen. Her concept of time was twisted into a murky swirl of confusion and dizziness.

"…"

"Hn," Adam huffed emotionlessly.

"Uh-oh…" Kristoff mumbled softly.

A brief moment passed, and then—"She did it!"—Eugene, Rapunzel, and Herc exclaimed in unison before taking a big leap backwards, pointing at the _guilty _redhead commoner.

And said redhead commoner, shaking by now, looked behind her slowly. She eyed each and every one of the students, hoping that somehow—_just somehow—_her mental thoughts from earlier of how _good-looking _they were would reach them, so that they'd feel flattered, and then they would help her talk out of this trouble, because right now, she most definitely was in trouble.

Anna gulped loudly, "I-I… didn't…"

"Well, well, well…" the Queen crossed her arms. Wearing an uncharacteristic smirk that was _one-thousand-times _more intimidating than that of her smiles, she arched a brow at Anna, "… if I remember correctly, this vase was given to the school by… who was it, Kristoff?"

The dark-blonde boy cleared his throat, "I believe it was from the Countess of Aberdeen. It was given to us as a token of appreciation for the services we have provided last year during the Arendelle Academy Festival."

"Hmm? A token of appreciation?" the Queen moved towards the shattered vase. She bent down to pick up a shard, "How much do you think this costs, Herc?"

"Er, well…" the muscular boy knelt down beside the platinum blonde senior and took a shard to observe for himself. "Despite being given to us by an English noblewoman, this vase is most definitely of Chinese origin. I'd say, probably mid-seventeenth century?" he paused to pick up a bigger shard, "Ah, highlights of blue and white… and… whoa. Man, I wish I took the time to check this out earlier. This is actually interesting stuff!"

"Herc."

"Okay, okay, sorry. Um…" he rubbed his chin, "There definitely is—I mean, _was _a Qinglong decoration before it shattered… so, I'm guessing this was from the Ming Dynasty?"

The senior rolled her eyes. "The price, Herc. I'm not asking you to play archaeologist."

"Ah, uh… probably around eighty-thousand? But, I mean, if you auction it out, you can easily raise the price to a couple million. You know how there are avid fanatics for these antiques…"

Turning back to Anna, the senior abruptly replaced the intimidating-looking smirk with a gentle (_almost too gentle, Anna noted_) smile. "Eighty-thousand dollars. How much does your father make per year, Miss Irving?"

Her sweat glands were beyond her control, and so were her vocal chords. Anna had never in her life felt fear this intense, this _close_, "H-he… wha… I-I don't…"

_Wait. What was going on?!_

"No matter. The responsibility is yours and yours alone, and therefore you are to pay off the debt with the best of your abilities," the platinum blonde explained casually. "Now, how we're going to do that is the question…"

_But it wasn't me! I thought you were nice, Miss Platinum-Blonde-Senior!_

"We can have her carry the rest of the stuff from the old room to here!" Rapunzel offered.

Eugene shook his head, as if deep in thought, "Nah… just carrying a few tables and shelves and trophies can't pay off for eighty-thousand dollars…"

_What! _Anna glared at the two devils_—yes, that's what she's calling Eugene and Rapunzel from now on_—it was their fault in the first place, and now they're having a knack out of thinking of a job for her?! _These rich bastards…!_

"Easy," everyone turned to the deep voice—it was Adam, speaking for the second time of the day, _Anna counted,_ "Have her work for us. We're short on people, aren't we?"

Kristoff's eyes lit up, "That's it! This commoner can be our _dog! _Adam, sometimes I just wish you talked more."

Mouth agape, Anna turned her glare to the dark-blonde boy. _D-dog…?_

The Queen chuckled. "Now, now, Kristoff. That was awfully rude," placing the broken shard back onto the ground, she made her way to Anna and reached out to offer her a hand.

Hesitantly, Anna took it, letting the senior pull her off the table. Before she could say anything, the taller girl held onto her chin, pushing her head up so that their gazes met.

It was weird. And Awkward. And t_oo sudden. _

Anna swallowed hard. The senior smelled like vanilla ice-cream and jasmine—kind of pleasant, kind of wintery, but… _honestly_, _this wasn't the time to be thinking about that. _The Queen herself was literally two inches away from her face! A-and she was just… staring—clear, crystal icy-blue eyes piercing through her murky teal ones—just… _staring. _Anna's legs were shaking, and she was pretty freaking sure that her face was as red as a tomato by now; yet still, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

"… but Adam is right," without breaking eye contact, the platinum blonde continued in a soft whisper, "We _can _have you work for us."

"Work… for you…?" Anna said weakly.

"Do it well, and we'll pay off the eight-thousand debt for you," Rapunzel smiled.

Her throat was dry as a desert by now—probably because she was continuously swallowing. "What… d-do I have to do?"

"Oh, y'know," Eugene threw his arms behind his head, "Run a few errands, pour a few cups of coffee…" and then his expression changed to something that could only be described as _cunning_, "… until the end of the school year."

"S-school year?!"

"Or," Kristoff cut in, "… you can pay eighty-thousand dollars back. Although," he chuckled, "I highly doubt that even if we divide the price up until the end of your time here in Arendelle Academy, you would be able to pay us back completely. Perhaps if we gave you another lifetime…"

Anna grunted. The _devils, _she could handle—they were just stupid rich people, but _this _guy. Man, This _Kristoff guy _was the biggest asshole she had ever met in her life. Gritting her teeth, she tried to hide her anger; she couldn't do anything more to agitate these freaks. "And _who _exactly am I working for…?"

The group fell silent. Their expressions blank. They stared at Anna, like she was the elephant in the room (which she _was_).

Rapunzel was the first to speak up, "You… don't know who we are…?"

Anna shook her head innocently.

"Can't really blame her," Herc joined in. He folded his arms, "I mean, if she knew, she wouldn't be wandering around this building."

Rapunzel beamed. "No worries! I can introduce us!" She grabbed Anna's hand and pulled her up front. "Oh, oh! First of all, I'm Rapunzel Astrum, the secretary,"

_Secretary…?_

"And I am Eugene Fitzherbert, the Vice President of Publicity. It's a pleasure to meet you," the other devil bowed, acting so gentleman-like that Anna felt a shiver run down her spine. She simply nodded once to acknowledge him.

_Wait, vice president…?_

Rapunzel, also annoyed at his over-the-top act, rolled her eyes. "I wanted to skip introducing him all together, but since that's over with… _this _is Hercules of the Ignis family, but we all call him Herc, and he doesn't mind it,"

The orange-haired boy smiled shly. "Nice to meet you, Miss Anna. I am the Vice President of Communications," he reached to shake the girl's hand.

"That quiet guy over there is the Treasurer—Adam of the Archibald family. He looks mean and scary and doesn't talk much, but don't mind him. He's actually a real nice guy!"

Anna glimpsed at the male in question and got a curt nod in response.

_Yeah… nice._

"And this," Rapunzel pointed to the messy, dark-blonde boy, "This is Kristoff Bjorgman. He's our Public Relations Director, so if you want to hear gossips about anyone in this school, he's the guy you have to look for."

"Pleasure," Kristoff said simply.

Anna didn't even try to acknowledge him. But then she thought (out loud), "Wait…" she pointed out her fingers, "Vice presidents, treasurer, secretary, director…" and then looked at the platinum blonde senior, "… then she's the… and this is…!"

Rapunzel smirked. "Yep, you got it," she pushed Anna forward, and the redhead found her balance before crashing into the platinum blonde. "That is our queen, her majesty, the student body _president_—Elsa de Archis."

A smile graced Elsa's lips. Once again, she grasped Anna's chin, forcing the shorter girl to look up, "And you, Anna Irving,"

Anna swallowed one last time.

"… Will be working for the student council until the end of the year."


	2. the uniform

**disclaimer: **FROZEN story&amp;characters © DISNEY

**a/n: **thanks for all the favourites/alerts/reviews so far! keep them coming, they are the ultimate source of motivation (`V`)/

a fair amount of fluff ahead!

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_**beyond music  
**_**(II – the uniform)**

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Anna looked up from her books. "Oh no," the sound of the clock tower could be heard even in the library, and it was also the sound of her being late. She shoved her pens and textbooks into her backpack and made her way out of her haven the library, which, ironically, was also the cause of all the trouble in the first place.

…

"_S-student council…?"_

_The Queen, the president, the elegant platinum blonde by the name of Elsa de Archis remained smiling. "Correct,"_

_Anna shook her head, grinning nervously, "There has to be a mistake—it wasn't my fault, I didn't even…!"_

"_You were the last to touch it, yes?" Eugene interrupted._

"_Y-yeah," the redhead stuttered, "… yeah, but I—"_

"_So it's you. It's that simple."_

_She gritted her teeth. "I am the last to touch it, therefore I broke it? Where's the logic in that?! I mean, if you two weren't messing around—"_

"_Ah-ah-ah," Rapunzel waved her index finger from side to side, "If you want to talk logic, then might I first declare that it is illogical to blame others for their own wrongdoings?"_

_Anna could not believe what she was hearing. Her jaw hung open—"What…!" _

"_Whatever the case," somewhere in the background, Kristoff, the most asshole of the bunch (Anna decided) joined in, "You will be our 'dog' until the end of the year," he crossed the room and threw an arm over Anna's shoulders. "We'll be looking forward to your services, commoner."_

_She wished to wipe that smirk off his stupid smug face more than anything, but—_

"_May we have a great year together, Miss Anna Irving," the platinum blonde finished._

—_but what bothered her most was the fact that even this girl, who seemed to be so nice and beautiful and just… gentle, wasn't lending her a hand at all. _

…

"… damn those rich bastards…" Anna muttered as she thought about the events from yesterday.

Of course, after all that ruckus, she was given a map by Herc—_what did Rapunzel say his family was? Ig… Ig-something… whatever. It's not like I'd know it anyway—_and was instructed to attend to club meetings every day after school at 4:00PM. This meant that her original plan to study for two hours after school at the library was cut down to thirty minutes. _Oh well, _Anna thought, _I can just borrow some books and take them home every few days or something. _

3:55PM. She had five minutes to get to the student council room, which was all the way in the west wing. Anna picked up her speed and received glances from the students in the hall. She quickly deducted that they weren't staring because she was running; rather, it was because she wasn't wearing the school uniform and was "wearing cheap commoner clothes". She mentally rolled her eyes to that thought. _As if those rich bastards would know how to dress casually… they probably wear Versace sweats and Louis Vuitton hoodies for all I care. Wait, do they actually make casual attire? _

Her thoughts were cut short when realized that she was panting.

_Boy, am I out of shape… _

Truth be told, it really was no joke when they said that Arendelle Academy was big. But she was only in the high school section! How big would the entire academy be, including the primary and middle schools, _and _the university?! Perhaps a city? But, like, yeah, commuting here was big enough of a hassle—she had to take the bus two hours before classes start and then walk quite a distance—through a series of courtyards—before actually _seeing _the school. Still, if the hard work she'd have to spend here for the next three years meant that she would have a bigger window into a good university, then she was willing to put up the effort.

That… _and _working for the student council.

_Sigh. _

She had arrived. The creamy pink colour of the tall, double door was more so disturbing to look at than relaxing (at least, that was what she thought the colour was supposed to do—_ease the human mind_). Taking a deep breath, Anna reached for the golden handle and pushed inwards, the latch making a _click _sound when it was released from strikeplate. "Pardon my intrusion…" Anna spoke softly as she entered.

"… but if we do add another chandelier to the ball room, we're going to have to cut the budget to the food expenses," Rapunzel, secretary to the council, noted as she swiped her fingers off her tablet, flipping a few virtual pages. "Adam, how much money are talking about, here?"

The tall, pony-tailed treasurer scrolled through his laptop from across the coffee table. "The chandelier Kristoff spoke off will cost up to forty grand," he answered blankly. "The expenses on food is approximately thirty-five grand. It's either one or the other,"

_Th-thirty-five grand worth of food?! _Anna gaped at the mere thought of how much food there will be. Perhaps mountains?

Kristoff clucked his tongue. Taking the pen in his hand to scratch his temple, he stared at his notes intently. "So then, we'd be down to only five grand worth of food for the night. Then the real question is, Rapunzel, do you think the students care more about the food or the presentation?"

The golden-blonde placed her tablet onto her lap, "Okay, I highly doubt that _one _chandelier would make that much of a difference in terms of presentation."

"But…" Herc gently took the tablet from the blonde's lap, "… this _is _a Baccarat Zenith chandelier we're talking about…"

_Bacca-what?_

"UGH, I'm hungry! Can we please take a break? We can't approve of anything until our Queen comes back anyway!" Eugene whined.

Kristoff smirked and nodded, "True. I didn't have anything to eat for lunch today, so I'm probably hungrier than any of you. I'll go see what's there to eat in the pantry," he stood up, but then stopped when he saw bright red hair at the door. "Oh, I think there's no need."

Anna blinked when he grinned. Despite how white and nice his teeth was, the gesture was still _slightly _creepy.

"Ah, it's Anna!" Herc said with a huge smile on his face.

It was cute enough to make Anna smile back.

"Perfect timing!" Eugene stood up from the sofa, "Did you bring us food?"

The smile disappeared. "Wh-wha… food?" Anna looked down at her hands. She was only holding onto the map given to her yesterday. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know I had to—"

"Oh, no matter!" Rapunzel interrupted, smiling as well. She walked up to Anna and took her by the wrist, pulling the redhead behind as she showed her to the cabinets. "I had people prepare these for us, in case we ever get hungry," Rapunzel cleared her throat and lowered her voice, "… which they, _they boys_, always do."

Anna couldn't respond. The blonde secretary had brought her to what appeared to be a dessert shop—only, it _wasn't _because it was simply a pantry of the student council… or, third music room. Anna thought _dessert shop _first because there was a display of cakes, ranging from tiramisu to dacquoise to even—_wait, I know this one—_the impossible-to-pronounce Prinzregententorte from Germany! _Oh man, _and then there was a separate display of macarons in at least twenty different colours! While Rapunzel was describing the location of coffee beans (or so she believed) to her, Anna found her mouth watering. Yes, she might as well be categorized as one of the boys as she, too, was "always" hungry.

"… and the Kopi Luwak can be found in that cabinet. You're free to make a cup for yourself, but do know that it's one of the most expensive coffee beans in the world, so… don't drink too much! Oh, you can also help yourself to anything you like, so as long as you do your job. One more thing, you don't need to worry about the food going bad. I have people coming in here once every day to replace the leftovers," Rapunzel finished with a grin. "Any questions?"

Anna mentally yelled at herself to close her mouth. She probably looked like an idiot throughout the entire… _er, _tour. "Ah, y-yes. I mean, no! No, I'm fine."

"Good," the blonde folded her arms. "Now, your first assignment for the year is…" stopping abruptly to chuckle, Rapunzel covered her lips with a palm, "… I say 'first', but this pretty much is how your assignments are going to be for the rest of the year."

Anna raised a brow.

"Okay, all you have to do is serve us food whenever we ask. Not hard at all, hm?"

"So… I'm essentially a waitress…?"

"Well, you'd also be fetching us paperwork, running errands when we ask… and you might just help out with the school events. That is, only if we ask."

"Then… I'm a maid?"

Rapunzel snapped her fingers, "Ah-ha! That's the perfect word! Oh, except, hmm…"

Anna gulped. "Except…?" The blonde stared at her, from head to toe, and the gesture reminded her eerily of what Kristoff did yesterday. Though, that jerk didn't have Rapunzel's sparkling emerald eyes that seemed to glitter at different angles.

"… except you're much younger than any of the maids I have at home, and you're much, _much _more adorable."

_Is that supposed to be a compliment?_ "Um… thanks?"

The blonde gasped. "Oh! That reminds me! I can totally have people make you a maid outfit! You'll work so much better in it than in these…" another full-body glance, "… commoner clothes!"

Anna shook her head, she drew her hand away from the senior's, "Ah—no, that's… completely fine, I can work well enough in these…"

"Nonsense! I'll have a tailor work on your new outfit in no time. For now, let me just tell you our preferences in food so that things will be easier, alright? You might want to jot this down, some of us are very picky," she giggled.

Anna had enough time to register the secretary's words, but didn't have time to actually pull out a notepad.

"Okay, I'm good with anything that has hazelnut, and I usually prefer milk tea over coffee. Adam hates sweet things, so you can probably give him Japanese mochi or youkan or whatever. Oh, he also hates his coffee with milk. Kristoff and Herc eat about anything, so you can pretty much grab whatever you want from the shelves. Eugene's the pickiest of them all, so it's best you ask him what he wants for the day before serving. As for our Queen—"

"Hey, Rapunzel!"—Eugene called from the adjoining room.

Said girl rolled her eyes. "Ugh, what is it?"

"Your cellphone! It's ringing!"

Another grunt, and Rapunzel was out of the room, leaving a very confused Anna standing there, somewhat thankful for the interruption. Because if the secretary were to ask her to repeat everything she had said, Anna would probably have fainted from the overflow of (unwanted) information. She gave one last glance around the room before heading out; hopefully, the secretary would forget about this 'assignment' and give her an easier one…

"What? _Now_?" Rapunzel spoke into the phone, "… no, I'm just showing our new _puppy _around," she turned to smirk at Anna, who could only swallow down her dry throat in response, "Oh, oh, oh! Elsa, I was thinking, maybe we can make her an outfit that would match her job!"

Anna swallowed harder.

"No, no! Not a dog costume, that'd be highly impractical if she were to carry stuff around for us. We can't afford having her break more stuff, right?"

At this point, Anna had already given up. So she was basically their servant-_slash_-plaything-_slash-_dress-up-doll. Jeez, was this even legal? To employ an under-aged student… making her work like a slave and, at the same time, abuse her as if she were a lab rat… _sigh._

_Then again, that vase did cost like eighty thousand dollars. So I guess this is only fair—hey! Wait, it wasn't even me in the first place—_

"… anyway, what are you calling for?" Rapunzel asked, picking up her glass of water on the coffee table and took a sip. Then, as if something struck her from behind, she choked on her drink. Looking frantically around the room—"Um… uh," she lowered her voice and walked towards Anna, away from the boys, "Elsa, you can't be serious, right?"

And Anna could hear the president's voice through Rapunzel's phone from their distance.

"_Yes, I am serious, Rapunzel."_

The secretary breathed out, as if in agony, and went on, "You're usually not such a klutz…"

"_Well, apparently, this time of the month makes me so. Now, please get some for me before the entire school sees!" _

Rapunzel scratched her head nervously. "Ah… you see, I kind of… used up all of mine and forgot to refill… hey, doesn't the change room have those machines where you can insert coins and—"

"_Yeah, they're all out. Can you believe that?"_

"Oh, well, aren't you screwed?" the blonde held back a chuckle.

"_Rapunzel!"_

"Okay, okay! Jeez, um…" she raised her head, eyes connecting with the commoner's teal ones for a brief moment and then an idea sparked—"Oh! Anna!"

The redhead jumped. "Y-yes?"

Rapunzel walked closer to whisper in her ear, "Do you, uh, happen to have… tampons or pads on you?"

A flush spread across her cheeks. "Uh… y-yeah! I…" she put her backpack down and shuffled through the inner pockets to check. Hers hadn't arrived yet, so… "Yeah, I do."

"Great!" Rapunzel said, then immediately covered her mouth. "Whoops. Um… Elsa, I'll come down with—" she paused abruptly, and Anna could swear, the corner of her lips arched for the briefest second, "—I mean, I'm going to send Anna down, are you okay with that?"

"… _why don't you come down?"_

"It's kind of inconvenient to pass that stuff out in public, y'know? Especially with the boys in the room…"

"_Well, do it in the pantry! No one ever goes in there but you, anyway!" _

"Why don't we," Rapunzel suggested, "Settle this quickly by sending Anna down, so that you can hurry up and come back up?"

An audible grunt, and then, _"Rapunzel! Just come dow—"_

"Anna," the girl pulled the phone away from her ear, "Do you know where the east wing gymnasium is?"

"Some… where… in the east wing…?"

Rapunzel giggled. "Good one. It's actually more so to the north wing than east. I know, I know. It's confusing, don't ask," she pressed the phone back against her eat, "Hey, she's on her way down. Just hang tight, your grace!"

The fact that she was able to cut the Queen off so easily wasn't really expected, but Anna figured that the two were just really close friends. After all, who would ask someone for pads or tampons so casually?

"Alright, Anna, you know the way. But, I mean, if you don't, you can always refer to the map. Now, off you go. Don't want to keep the Queen waiting, right?"

Nodding, Anna quickly took out a small pink pouch with the needed items from the inner pockets of her backpack and headed for the door. She ignored the suspicious gazes from the boys, noting that Rapunzel could do all the explaining. Anna drew out the map from her pocket and tried to pinpoint where exactly she had to go; apparently, since she was in the west wing right now, the east would be…

"Ugh."

Why, yes, of course. It would have to be at the other end of the freaking academy. Blowing upwards, Anna braced herself for another round of self-exhibition from the rich kids.

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After some, ten minutes of pacing, Anna decided that she might as well stay in shape by running around the school regularly. Not to brag, but she was one of the fastest sprinters when she was in middle school; she just wasn't that much of a long-distance runner—which exactly was the reason that she was panting right now. Regardless, she had finally reached her destination. Now, all she had to do was find the Queen.

Five girls were cleaning up, rolling up a net and picking up scattered volleyballs, and seeing how the colour of their gym shorts was red, Anna figured that the first years were probably on clean-up duty. Assuming that Elsa was waiting in the change room, she made her way to the signs that labelled so.

Right when she thought nothing else could surprise her, Anna found herself gawking at the mere sight of the change room. This… _this wasn't a change room! _She thought, _this was a five-star fitness centre! _And this school must be chandelier-happy, because even in this change room, there existed one. There were golden signs nailed on the pearl-marble walls, labelling where the steam room and sauna were, the showers, the lockers, the washroom stalls… like, there was no other explanation—this was literally a _freaking _fitness centre!

Luckily, nobody was around to judge her weirdness (her eyes were so wide, they looked as if they were going to fall out of her sockets). She shook herself out of her trance looked at the signs. "Where would she be…?" Anna asked out loud.

"Anna?" a meek voice called to her nearby.

The redhead followed the sound, "Um, El—_"_ _no no, _"… y-your grace?"

"I'm at the lockers,"

Anna turned a few corners and found an entire hallway of lockers. Walking down the wide corridor, she looked into each alley for the president, and sure enough, after about nine of them, "Oh, found you!"

Elsa was sitting upright, one leg over another, and her palms were rested snugly on her thighs. Boys would say that this was an elegant pose, but girls would admit that this was one of the most conventional ways to hide that awkward pain in their pelvises, the gooey gross-ness, and just… the flow, in general.

"I, uh…" Anna approached the platinum blonde, noting that she still looked drop-dead gorgeous with gym attire. And that hairdo—_god—_she couldn't decide whether she liked the French-braid style or this wild, slicked-back style. There was something about that braid. Yes, that silky-smooth-looking braid draped over her shoulder was just begging to be touched, to be petted. It looked so soft and neat and…

"Anna…?"

She jumped. "Y-yes!" Perhaps due to embarrassment, Anna shoved the pink pouch into Elsa's face before she could help it. "I brought you these,"

The platinum blonde took the pouch out of Anna's hands. "Thank you," she smiled, and then a blush quickly overwhelmed her cheeks. "I-I must apologize for asking you to do this on your first day. As a female, as the _president_, this is quite embarrassing…"

Anna chuckled to ease the tension in the air, "It's really nothing. I had a friend who had it much worse in the first year of middle school. Her first time came, and it was all over her pants! Thing was, nobody else had it yet, so they all thought she was sick!"

Elsa's eyes widened slightly, "That's horrible. What happened afterwards?"

"Oh, man. Some got so concerned, they ran out of the change room and started screaming, '_Daisy's bleeding! Daisy's bleeding! It's all over her pants! Somebody call the ambulance!' _I mean, if you think about it now, it's pretty funny, I guess. But still, it's kind of sad…" Anna's speech slowed down. She felt bad for sharing so much information about that friend of hers to someone she barely knew, but this was kind of in the moment, right?

The platinum blonde spoke up, "Luckily, I'm not a heavy flow…" not so discreetly, she looked behind herself. "Yes, good. I'm still okay,"

Anna held back a giggle. Despite mostly carrying herself in such an authoritative poise in front of the council members yesterday, Elsa was behaving rather lax at the moment. _It's kind of cute. _

"Anyway, I'll… be right back."

The redhead nodded and watched the senior take her pouch and another bag into the stalls. And Anna, being the restless teenaged girl that she was, wished to explore this _five-star _change room_. _Oh, especially the steam room and the sauna, because how much more extravagant can this place possibly be?! Surely, those two facilities had got to be the priciest of all things. She followed the signs and easily found her way to her destination. The rooms were beside one another—where the steam room was behind a door of glass completely steamed up, the sauna was clear. Curiosity striking her, Anna decided to peek into the sauna. Perhaps she could even go in to get a little feel of how hot it was. So she reached for the handle of the door and pulled, and then—

"Whoa!"

Startled by the sound, Anna stepped back and then the world fell upon her.

Or, at least, if the world was a bucket of water, then it fell upon her.

"Oh my goodness!" a girl's voice. "Are you okay? I am so sorry!"

_Great. Second fall of the of the week. I hope I didn't break anything this time. _"N… no, I-I'm okay…" _not okay. The water was hot as hell. _

"Here, let me help you up,"

She felt the girl grab her forearms, and then she was pulled back onto her feet. Anna wiped her bangs from her eyes and blinked several times to get her vision back, only to see in front of her a redhead who was much, _much _prettier than herself. Beautiful, voluminous, _soft, _long red hair that reached her lower back—_this girl's hair is almost as long as Rapunzel's!_—and bright, deep, aqua blue eyes that were so strikingly sparkly and beautiful and round and nice and… well, suffice to say, Anna decided they were probably just as pretty as Elsa's.

Just… _probably. _

…

… _Nah. Elsa's better._

And this redhead, who was only wrapped in a towel, continued in a genuinely concerned tone, "Are you sure you are fine? You fell pretty hard, and that bucket of water was really hot!"

Anna grinned nervously, "I have a really hard head!"

The girl giggled. She brushed a few messy strands away from Anna's face, so as to fix her hair up. "Do you have a change of clothes? You're soaked from head to toe."

"Oh, I…"

"Anna?"

She didn't know why it overcame her, but the first thing Anna felt when she heard her voice was relief. She spun around to find Elsa, still in her gym clothes, holding onto her pouch and standing there. "Elsa!"

The platinum blonde tensed a little to the call—it _was_ the freshman's first time calling her by name. "What happened?" she asked as she approached the two.

"Oh man, you know this girl, Elsa?"

Nodding, she placed a hand on Anna's shoulder. "Ariel, what happened?"

The Queen's protective gesture made Anna stiffen for a second.

"It was my fault," Ariel confessed, "I came out of the sauna with a bucket of water, and I didn't know this young miss was right outside, so…"

Anna folded her arms. It was starting to get cold. "No, I'm fine, really. T-thanks for your concern, though."

Ariel beamed in response. "Do you have anything you can change into? You're going to catch a cold at this rate,"

"I… w-well…"

"Anna, you can change into mine," Elsa said, wrapping her arm entirely over the younger girl's shoulder.

She spun her head at the senior, surprised. "B-but, Elsa, what about y—"

"The president can wear what she wants. Also, the president isn't soaked from head to toe, so you are kind of on the priority list, here." The corner of Elsa's lips arched upwards.

Ariel smiled. "Or," she waited for Anna to turn to her, "You can change into my uniform."

The platinum blonde cut in, "So, would you prefer the student body president's clothes—"

"—or the captain of the swim team's?" Ariel finished.

It was as if the two were singing a duet. Anna was thoroughly mesmerized by their synchronicity, but she was more so distracted by the coldness that was slowly creeping into her skin. "I-I'll take Elsa's…"

The platinum blonde smirked. "One-zero Elsa,"

Ariel rolled her eyes but chuckled soon after, "Whatever," then she took Anna's hand into her own, "I'll leave you to get changed before you get sick, Miss Anna, but allow me to introduce myself first. I am Ariel of the Ignis family, it's a pleasure to meet you, and…" she chuckled again, "… I hope the next time we meet, it will be less of a tragedy, and I will be in a more appropriate attire."

With that, the older redhead picked up the emptied bucket and walked off—the sounds of her footsteps slowly fading away.

Hearing teeth clattering by now, Elsa acted quickly. "Poor girl, you must be freezing," she grabbed Anna's wrist and led her back to the locker area. She opened up a locker and took out a gym bag, "Here, change into what I have inside. There's a towel in there as well, so you can dry yourself up."

"Th-thank you," Anna stuttered this time from the cold, not from nervousness.

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Changing into the uniform wasn't as difficult as she thought it'd be. Granted, it was just _slightly _loose, especially at the chest area—most definitely because Elsa was taller (not because Anna had a smaller bust). _Point was, _the uniform fit snugly, and she was content with that. Anna had quite a bit of trouble with the tie, though, so she decided to leave it be. Then there was her hair—she would do better with a blow-dryer, but she probably shouldn't be too demanding right now. So, she resorted to letting her braids loose, allowing the tresses fall into their natural position. She exited the stall, and found Elsa fiddling with the end of her braid. The sight was, in one word, adorable. Anna could almost imagine that the president had this habit since she was a young girl.

"All finished?"

Apparently, she had been daydreaming again. Elsa was already off the bench and was right in front of her. "Y-yeah. Thanks again,"

Elsa tilted her head as a smile formed on her face. "It looks good on you," she complimented. "Does it fit?"

_Not really. Your boobs are bigger, so it's a bit loose at the chest area—_"It's perfect."

The Queen responded with a breath of amusement. "The tie isn't, though."

Anna scratched her cheek. "I… never really had to wear a tie for any of my past schools."

"Ah," Elsa answered simply. Standing directly in front of the shorter girl, she reached to pop the collars of the dress shirt up, and then loosened the tie.

Anna felt as though her older sister was fixing her clothes up—that was, if she had one, anyway.

Elsa secured the tie with a knot and then pushed it up to the neck of the collar. She straightened the shirt, brushing the nonexistent dust off the shoulders of Anna's (her) jacket and then buttoning it up. Elsa took a step back to admire her work, "There," she grinned, "You look beautiful."

Anna blinked a few times before staring down at herself. Somehow, her mind wasn't letting the words sink in. They sounded merely like words, _sounds_, with no meaning. "T-thank you," she said with a soft voice.

Noticing the hesitation in her voice, the platinum blonde tilted her head. "Anna? Are you okay?"

She gave the senior a smile and then shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, it's just that … I've never really thought of myself as beautiful," Anna laughed. "You're the first to actually compliment me with that word, by the way. Oh, except for papa. He tells me that all the time, but come on," she rolled her eyes dramatically, "All fathers think their daughters are beautiful no matter how distorted they look."

Elsa's brows rose in concern.

"I mean, if anything…" Anna fiddled with her fingers, "I think I'm only mildly attractive—just as Kristoff had said—and… oh man, I'm talking too much, aren't I?"

Elsa gave her a small smile. She shook her head.

Anna laughed, albeit uneasily since she realized that she kind of killed off the mood. "Anyway, I think we should head back, I'm sure the others are waiting—"

"Anna,"

"… hmm?"

Elsa stepped forward and took the younger girl's hand, stopping Anna from moving further. "Were you… ever _bullied _in your past schools?"

Her eyelids fluttered. "No," she said in a question-like manner, "… why do you ask?"

The platinum breathed out (in what seemed to be relief), and released the redhead's hand. "No reason in particular. Come on, let's be on our way."

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"No way!" Anna's eyes widened.

Retaining her smile, Elsa simply nodded.

"So you're the student body president _and _you're on the volleyball team?!"

She nodded again.

"That's amazing! You must have really good time-management!

Elsa laughed lightly. "Thank you."

Anna grinned.

They walked on down the hallway in a comfortable silence. Somehow, however, Anna noticed that even though she was wearing a uniform right now, she was getting more stares. Maybe this time, it was because she looked nothing like a senior? Or maybe because she was walking right next to the president? Or… maybe she was being overtly self-conscious. These kids were probably looking at Elsa, and not herself. _Jeez, Anna. Way to overestimate yourself. Just because you're wearing a three thousand dollar-suit. _

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what did Rapunzel tell you to do before going down to help me?" Elsa broke the silence.

Anna was slightly glad she didn't have to break the silence, "Oh, y'know," her mind suddenly decided to recall the massive dump of information from earlier, "Something about Adam liking sweet things and… Eugene liking… hazelnut…?"

The platinum blonde covered her mouth with a hand as she giggled. "Adam _hates _sweet things, and Rapunzel is the one who likes hazelnut."

"Oh."

"What about yourself?" Elsa continued, "Do you enjoy sweets?"

Folding her arms behind herself, Anna looked at the ceiling as they walked on. "Enjoy? Man, I'm _in love _with anything sweet! Though, I always prefer chocolate to anything else. If you made me choose between chocolate or ice-cream, I'd choose chocolate. But if you made me choose between chocolate and chocolate ice-cream, then I'll be in a dilemma. But, point is, I'm good with anything smothered in chocolate. The darker, the better!"

Elsa beamed at the girl's enthusiasm. "Is that so?"

"What about you, Elsa?" she asked, anticipation brimming in her voice. "Rapunzel was about to tell me, but then she got interrupted."

"I, too, enjoy anything 'smothered in chocolate'," Elsa answered softly.

"Oh, that's perfect! It'll be so much easier for me to choose desserts for you! I can even try each and every one of them for myself first, and then I can give you the best of the best!" Anna paused; it was like all the happiness in the world was sucked out of her, as her expression was replaced with one that looked fearful. "W-wait, I'm sorry, I'm too ahead of myself. Rapunzel said I'm free to have anything I like in the pantry, but I guess treating it like a buffet isn't really appropriate, huh?"

Elsa merely smiled to the younger girl's quirkiness. "We've returned."

"Oh!" Anna blinked. Right, she must have been rambling for far too long. The Queen was probably tired of her voice, and was telling her to shut up in the most polite way possible… "Here, let me get the door… _oof._"

_Flowers. In her face. _

"… for you," came a male's voice.

_Wait, what?_

Her eyes narrowed. Right in front of her were flowers. Like, not cheap, dandelions or anything, but roses. Yellow roses.

The person lowered the bouquet, revealing his face.

Anna didn't know that her eyes could widen anymore, but they did. "Wh…"

"Miss Anna, I'd like to say that I'm sorry," it was Kristoff. His head was low, like he was bowing, "… For saying such harsh words yesterday," he took a step back, letting the redhead enter the room. "I meant no disrespect, but please understand that I'm… really, erm…"

"Socially-impaired," Eugene, at the back, finished for him.

Kristoff glanced behind to glare, but turned back quickly turned back to face Anna again. "No, I-I'm just… a bit awkward, sometimes. So, uh," he swallowed, shoving the flowers higher up to the girl's face, "I'm sorry. Truly, I am."

With trembling hands, Anna reached for them, "T-thank you, I…" _—__have never received flowers from a boy before—_"… really like them. Oh, and of course, I accept your apology," she said, blushing.

"Now, now, don't just stand in the doorway!" Rapunzel called from the sofas, "Come sit down, Anna! We've got something for you!" she said, patting at the open seat beside herself.

The redhead did as she was told, albeit hesitantly—for she still had to be cautious around these people whom she barely knew. She sat herself comfortably on the leather sofa, holding the bouquet close like it was her only grip on the world. Anna then shared a brief eye contact with Adam, who was sitting directly in front of her on the other sofa—an arm placed casually on the armrest and his chin on his palm —but she quickly looked away. There was just something far too _spectacular _about the quiet male and his gaze.

Seeing how Anna had settled down, Rapunzel grinned. "Herc, you can come out now!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the orange-haired junior called back, and out he came from the pantry, pushing a trolley with a—

"Oh my…" Anna's jaw dropped.

"Ta-da!" Rapunzel sang, "Are you up for some _chocolate_ fondue?"

Emphasis on the word _chocolate. _Anna unconsciously nodded, her eyes goggling at the chocolate fountain. It was at least two foot high, and the smell emitting from it was already making her mouth water. _God, she could drink all that up on her own_. She watched in awe as Eugene and Herc set the fountain right in front of her, and she didn't even notice them setting down other plates of food—she was far too mesmerized by the fondue itself.

"Okay, we got fruits, cream puffs, mini ice-cream scoops… is there anything else we should have out here?" the secretary asked out loud. "Anna?"

Her reaction wasn't immediate, but Anna soon realized that the golden-blonde was speaking to her. "Oh, no!" she shook her head frantically, "I'm…" _confused, _"… why are you guys—" she looked around the room, at every one of the council members, "—how d-did you...?" then she cut herself off, and finally turned to the president, who, to her surprise, had long been sitting on the armrest beside her. But Anna ignored that—she had more important questions, "H-how did _they_…? We were just right outside the room when I told you!"

Elsa giggled.

Anna wanted to pout. But she could only feel herself getting lightheaded.

"I'm the president, I have my ways. Besides," the platinum blonde senior wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "You helped me, and this is my way of thanking you,"

She stiffened. Holding onto the flowers even tighter by now, she swallowed a sob.

"Aw, oh no! What's wrong?" Rapunzel scooted closer, patting the freshman on the head gently.

Anna sniffed. "It's n-nothing. Just that," she wiped away a tear with her (Elsa's) sleeve, "… I haven't had chocolate fondue for a long time…"

The room grew silent, then—

"Oh, you poor thing!" the secretary threw her arms around the younger girl.

Eugene let out an audible sigh, "The commoner world is tough, isn't it?"

"Well, no…" _sniff_, "It's just that no one normally keeps a chocolate fondue fountain at home. And you don't really get to eat these unless you go to a hotel or something…" she could see Herc on the verge of tears in the background. Even Adam seemed to be giving her a look of pity.

"There, there," Rapunzel went on, ignoring Anna's explanation as she tightened her arms around her. "More importantly, I think you look absolutely gorgeous in the school uniform!"

Once again—the spontaneous-changing-topic-syndrome. _Yep, I'm just going to call it that._

"That reminds me, Rapunzel," Elsa turned to her secretary.

The girl in question raised her head, "Yes?"

"The conversation we had earlier, about Anna's maid outfit," she broke her gaze from Rapunzel to look at the redhead. "Don't call your tailor, call the academy. Tell them to ship to the student council a brand new female uniform, first year. We'll send in the measurements in a bit."

Rapunzel nodded fervently, "Oh, I'd like that!" she took out her phone and immediately started dialling.

Anna gawked. She wanted to reach for the golden blonde but couldn't because Elsa still had an arm draped across her shoulders. So she turned to the latter, "Elsa, I can't afford—"

"Relax," Elsa smiled, "It's a gift from me to you."

"No, I-I can't accept such an expensive—"

"Oh, just accept it!" Eugene cut in. "The Queen rarely gives out presents!"

Herc nodded. He folded his arms and took a seat, "Yeah, you should feel honoured! The _president _of Arendelle High School is giving you a gift! I'd be happy as hell if I were you, to be honest."

"Just take it," Kristoff added simply.

Anna swallowed. Then she found herself looking at Adam—like she was waiting for him to say something as well—but he was only sipping from his teacup. Sighing, Anna turned back to look up at Elsa. The older girl was still smiling.

"Well?" Elsa inquired gently.

She sighed again, deeper this time. "O-okay. I'll… take it. But can I ask, why?"

The platinum blonde blinked. She suddenly straightened her posture, "If you mean 'why', as in 'why am I so insistent on making you wear a uniform', it's because you work for us now. It's important that you carry yourself in a professional manner. This _is _the student council,"

Anna nodded. "I-I understand…"

"Or," Elsa continued immediately, and Anna could feel the muscles of the older girl's arm on her shoulder relax, "… Maybe I just think that you look beautiful in the uniform, and I want to see you wear it more often?" she finished with a wink.

"…"

And, that was the first time in Anna's life where she forgot how to breathe for up to two seconds.

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**a/n: **crap, this was longer than i wanted it to be. hopefully you guys don't mind the length—i tend to write _a lot_ for my multi-chapter-stories.

do tell me if you mind the length, i can always adjust.

see you soon, and, of course, please don't forget to review :)


	3. the dance (1)

**disclaimer: **FROZEN story&amp;characters © DISNEY

**a/n: **FLUFF IS AWESOME. EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. AND ABOVE ALL ELSE, YOUR REVIEWS ARE AWESOME

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_**beyond music  
**_**(III – the dance pt. 1)**

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"Why are we _still _talking about the chandelier?" Rapunzel's tone was more than stressed.

Anna dared not to look the secretary in the eye—she was clearly pissed off, no thanks to the wavering opinions from one particular member.

"Because!" The _one particular member_ fanned the notepad at his face, creating a small amount of wind, "It's something worth addressing! Like Herc said, it's a Baccarat Zenith chandelier. If we are able to add the _Midnight _collection to the ballroom, it would impress a _hell _lot of people."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. She took a moment to breathe in, "Keep in mind, Kristoff, this is not the festival. It's just a student ball—it's a simple function to welcome _students_, not their parents! Not CEOs of major companies, not anyone important!"

"_Yet_," Kristoff interjected.

Anna could sense the tension rising, but she did find it fascinating how the other members are simply watching the debate. They weren't joining in to take sides or anything.

"… Rapunzel, I agree. The students aren't as important as their parents, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention to them. If the presentation of the ball is well-received, then the students would most definitely inform their family, and thus, the student council would get credit for such."

"Okay, I, too, completely agree," the secretary sighed, "But take it this way—we add a new chandelier. Okay. Done. Students like it, they tell their family. We get the praise. Good, we get recognition. _Then _what? You have to remember, the chandelier will then stay in that ballroom until the _end of time. _Even though you like the chandelier, it doesn't mean the future generations will like it. What if they have it removed? What _then _would we explain to the company selling it to us?"

"Rapunzel's right," Elsa finally joined in, "True, getting the chandelier would be beneficial to the council. However, like she said, if the future council members were to dispose of it, there will be much explaining to do with the company. Also, for future-reference, I believe it would not fair as well,"

Kristoff furrowed his brow. Anna could see that the Queen's words had caused him to rethink his suggestion.

"On the other hand, if we do well with the buffet, the council will likely get as much recognition."

A heavy sigh, "I suppose you have a point," Kristoff sat back.

Adam started typing in his laptop, "Then we will use fifty-five percent of the budget on the food that we will be serving for the night,"

Anna gaped. _Fifty-five percent is thirty-five grand…? These kids are using that much money to host a freaking student ball?!_

"Great. The biggest problem has been dealt with," Eugene said as he took a sip from his teacup. "I'll have the invitation letters sent out by the end of the week."

_Invitation… letters? Don't normal schools just put up posters and announce it on the P.A or whatever? _Anna wondered.

"Remember to give priority to the Solis and the Tholberg families," Herc pointed out as he stared at his tablet, "The board of the school academy is really keen on it. I think it probably has something to do with the donation to the astronomy equipment last year."

Kristoff chuckled, "The stuff that no one uses?" he sat up straight again. "No matter. The youngest child of the Tholberg family has graduated last year. This means we only have to give priority to that Solis girl… Aurora, was it?"

This was all too much for her to process. The usual, rowdy and childish student council members were able to speak like professional businessmen—like they spoke like this on an everyday basis. It was almost like everyone in this room had bipolar personality. Well, everyone except for herself, of course. Regardless, Anna decided that she was paying far too much attention to something she shouldn't even care about.

_They're arguing about chandeliers and stuff I don't understand, for god's sake_.

She was instructed to polish all the picture frames by the end of the week. Apparently, they were (which meant _she _was) going to hang all these up on the walls. Pictures of past student body presidents, council members, random portraits of landscapes… random artistic-looking _things, _and there was even a _random _painting of Joan of Arc! The thought of putting all of this up made Anna sweat—the walls of this room (every room in this school, actually) were—no joke—tall as hell. They weren't your average classroom height—they was literally doubled. Which made Anna think: these guys might as well just host the freaking ball here; or, just, any other room because they all look like ballrooms anyway.

"Hey, Anna! Can I get a refill here, please?"

Anna snapped herself out of her thoughts. "Coming," she said half-heartedly. Anna dropped the polishing cloth, dusting her hands on her skirt before pushing the trolley of tea and biscuits over to the group.

"Thanks," Eugene raised his cup, letting Anna pour more tea in. "You look good in that uniform, by the way."

The wink from him would've made Anna blush, Like, he was attractive and everything, after all, but thing was, Eugene just wasn't her type of guy.

"Thank you," Anna replaced the empty teacup on the coffee table with a filled one. She took a moment to glance at Elsa in the corner of her eyes and caught the platinum blonde watching her actions.

And, sure enough, she started, "How's the cleaning?"

Anna intended to let out an exasperated huff, but somehow, it came out as a chuckle. "Smooth," she joked, "You guys have _a lot _of pictures…"

Elsa returned the chuckle with one of her own.

"I'd actually prefer less pictures," Rapunzel confessed, picking up a teacup to take a sip. "Maybe just keep the nicer ones?"

"Gee, I thought I was the only one thinking that," Herc blew upwards. A thick lock of his orange hair fell back down to cover one eye. "It's not like the past council members are particularly good looking. I don't want to see their faces _everyday_."

An honest confession from an honest boy. Anna giggled to his statement.

"They're right, your grace," Kristoff joined in, "Since we changed rooms, can we change the rules as well? Switch it up a bit. Let's not put up pictures of faces we don't even care about. If you ask me, I wouldn't want the future members to look at my face everyday…"

"What, because you're not as handsome?" Eugene leaned an elbow on the bulkier male's shoulder.

He rolled his eyes and shoved his elbow away, "Piss off."

A soft chuckle brought everyone's attention back to Elsa, who was covering her mouth with delicate fingers. "It is quite awkward to know that your face will be left as a display for many generations to come…" she paused, eyes wandering around the walls of the room. Then, without warning, her attention shifted to the redhead, "Anna, what do you think?"

She nearly jumped. "Think—w-who, me?"

Elsa nodded, smiling.

"I-I… have no say in this…"

"No," the president crossed her leg, "I simply want to hear the opinions from a third party."

With that, everyone else turned to Anna.

She felt like she was holding the conch. Anna swallowed, "Um, w-well…" she quickly glanced around the room. True, with the beautiful lighting from the large windows and the decoration of the crystal chandelier, too many paintings would most likely make this place look like a mess. "Maybe just keep the more artistic pictures? Y'know, like, the ones with waterfalls and nature and… oh, the Joan of Arc painting is nice."

"Hn," Adam breathed—and it almost sounded like he was approving of her suggestion. It made Anna feel flattered, if only just a bit.

"Then it's settled," Rapunzel stood up, speaking in place of the president, "We will keep only the 'artistic' pictures," she paused, eyeing at Elsa and then at Anna, "… by the choice of Anna herself,"

"W-wait, what?"

"It's your idea," Elsa explained, still smiling, "You might as well carry it on."

"But… I'm not even—"

"Now then," Rapunzel interrupted. She walked around the sofa and spread her arms, spinning like a ballerina in the open space. "What should we do with the rest of all this room?"

Truth be told, Anna was wondering the same thing; after all, the only furniture in the room as of now were two sofas and one coffee table. That, and the entire dessert shop in the pantry. To put this into a better picture, these guys were basically occupying merely one-fifth of a room that was half the size of a gymnasium.

"I was thinking," Herc stood up and walked over to the ceiling-to-floor window. "Maybe we can set up one of those long, conference tables here?"

Rapunzel gasped. She ran to the taller boy, "That's a great idea! It certainly beats sitting on a sofa for two straight hours! Oh, this is genius! We're going to look so sophisticated and professional and _awesome_!"

"And when we get tired of sitting there, we can revert back to the sofa," Herc's enthusiasm was rising—as evident by his tone. He and Rapunzel were jumping like a pair of schoolgirls.

"Now, now. Calm down, _children_," Eugene laughed at the sight. He stood up and joined the pair by the window, "It's a great idea and all, but does the student council have enough spare expenses? Last time I checked, these conference tables can get quite pricey. Especially with your taste in furniture, Rapunzel—just the coffee table you had shipped in from Sweden cost… how much, a couple hundred grand…?"

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Pft, if the council doesn't have the money, _I'll _sponsor it,"

"And I, as well!" Herc grinned.

"Yeah, jeez. Honestly, it's just a table, Eugene. No need to make it a big deal," she pushed the brunette out of the way gently, and then she went back to her interior-designer mode. "I'll make it black. Full black. Even the chairs. It'll be modern-looking; sharp at the edges, black glass top… oh, and the chairs! They'll be—"

"I don't mean to interrupt…" Kristoff said, smirking with his arms folded. "But can you play interior designer later? We kind of have to get the organizing done by the end of the week. The ball is next Friday."

"Ooh, right," she giggled, "Sorry. Just that I get so artistic sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

It was entertaining, to say the least. Anna concluded that even though these rich kids can be a handful at times, they were ultimately normal people. She looked to the president, who, much like herself, was smiling throughout the entire conversation.

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"I'll see you tomorrow then," Rapunzel, standing at the doorway, waved goodbye.

With her hands full, Anna responded, "Bye-bye."

Rapunzel giggled and waved to Anna specifically before closing the door.

"Alright, I'm off as well. Gotta check up on Max," Eugene shoved his tablet into his suitcase (this school was apparently too classy for normal _backpacks_). "He's been really moody lately,"

"That's because you haven't been paying attention to him," Kristoff tucked his suitcase under his arm. "I'm going to check up on Sven before I head home. Wanna join?"

_Max? Sven? Who…? _Anna blinked at the boys.

"Oh, yeah, good that you offered. I'll come with you." The two made their way to the door, "Bye, Anna! See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye-bye!"

Kristoff and Eugene chuckled lightly to her response—almost in the same manner as Rapunzel, and then they were out of the room. Herc and Adam had left earlier to catch up on their other club activities, and Elsa had gone down to pick up the schedule for the next volleyball game or something.

Some new things Anna learned today was that apparently, Herc was in the martial arts club, which didn't really come as a surprise considering his physique, but she was quite impressed that he, along with Elsa, was able to handle two school activities at once. What did they do about studying time?

And then there was Adam. He came out of the cloakroom with a weird-looking sports bag—it looked like it was big enough to carry golf clubs, but the shape of the bag looked nothing like it. Whatever the case, it did mean that Adam, as well, was in another club.

Anna picked up the rest of the cups on the coffee table and carried the load back to the pantry. She was told by Rapunzel that it was necessary to wash everything—as it was part of her job. "Good thing there's a dishwasher," she spoke to herself.

"Would you have washed everything by hand, otherwise?"

She spun around, "O-oh! Elsa!" The sudden movement made the cups on the tray she was holding sway.

And had Elsa not caught her by the elbows, helping her regain her balance, Anna was quite positive that she would have to work for the council for another year or so.

"Oh my goodness, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"No, no," Elsa was calm but concerned at the same time, "It was my fault. I shouldn't have come in without warning. Are you okay?"

Anna placed the tray down onto the nearest counter, "Yeah, of course!" she searched to get occupied with something so that she could avoid anymore questioning—

"So," Elsa started before she could think of anything.

_Good._

"Everyone's gone."

"Yep," so Anna decided to get to work. Like the china was made out of crystal, she put them into the dishwasher, one-by-one, as carefully as she could manage. "Everyone seems so busy,"

Elsa, meanwhile, watched with amusement, but figured that it was best to carry on the conversation so as to lift the pressure off Anna's chest, "What do you mean?"

"Well, y'know," Anna shrugged her shoulders, "… you're in the volleyball club, Kristoff and Eugene seem to have something important to do… Adam's in the golf club or something, and, well, I guess that leaves Rapunzel to be the most free."

Chuckling, Elsa folded her arms across her stomach, "Actually, Rapunzel might be the busiest of us all,"

"Wha—really?"

"Mhmm," she nodded, "Oh, and Adam's not in the golf club. He's…" Elsa gave Anna a sly look, "… you know, I believe that you should find out what clubs they are in yourself,"

Anna blinked. "Oh. I-I guess…"

Elsa turned to exit the pantry, and Anna followed suit.

"Do I just… let the dishes wash on their own?" Anna asked, looking back as she heard the sound of water in the machine.

"Yes, that is alright," Elsa picked up her suitcase beside the sofa. "You should not worry too much about the… 'household chores', shall we call it that? In fact, I think you should be more relaxed around us."

Anna faked a laugh. _How do I relax when I have a debt to pay off and courses to study for…?_

"Are you heading home?"

She looked up, "W-wh… home—yeah," Anna stood straight, "… yeah, I am."

"Good," Elsa turned to look out the window. The orange hue of the evening sun dyed her skin tone in a similar colour, "It is already close to six o'clock,"

Anna followed her eyes, looking outside just as she was.

The golden hands of the clock tower, reflecting the warm lights of the sun, were pointing at three minutes to six.

And then she watched. Anna simply _watched. _

Somehow, in this room—right now—filled with silence, filled with the warm orange light, Anna realized that she could forget everything. Yes—the debt, the snobby rich kids, the… _stress of studying_…

From a distance, the sounds of a bell started echoing. At the back of her mind, she realized that three minutes had passed by just like that, and a bigger part of her wondered why the sounds were so beautiful, so soothing. She could loosen her body (_for what felt like in ages_), she could relax her shoulders. Anna could breath out with ease; she allowed her eyelids to drop. And then slowly… _slowly_…

…

_Oh?_

Anna gasped. Her eyes snapped open—_strange—_a drop of tear had rolled down her cheek.

She would have tried to hide, but the platinum blonde in front of her was already staring, emotionless.

"Anna,"

She quickly wiped the tear away. "Y-yes?"

Elsa approached her. The sounds of her footsteps were soft on the white marble floor, and they were almost as soothing as the bells of the clock tower. When she was within arms-length, Elsa reached for the younger girl's hand, gripping two fingers—_only two fingers—_gently. Her touch was not exactly warm, but the contact was enough to make Anna feel a strange, burst of heat within her chest. And it was comfortable. It was nice.

And throughout all of this, their eye contact did not break. Deep azure and light teal connected; Anna searched through the different flecks of blue in Elsa's pupil—it was like her eyes would change shades if she moved even the slightest.

She didn't even realize that Elsa was stroking her cheek with her thumb, wiping away the remainder of that tear, and then that hand moved up to pat her on the head.

"Do you need a hug?" Elsa spoke. Quiet and soft, almost in a whisper. Her lips arched in the nicest, prettiest smile, _ever. _

Anna's breath hitched. She heard herself yelp (she wanted to say yes), and that was it. Her instinct was to nod, and then her face was buried in Elsa's shoulder and her arms were wrapped around that tiny waist.

And Elsa adapted quickly. She embraced the younger girl, stroking the back of her head with a strength so delicate it was like she was cradling a newborn child. Elsa listened to the quiet sobs; she rubbed the poor girl's back to ease her breath, hushing quiet "_shhs_" into her ear when she felt Anna's fingers digging into her shoulder blades.

She didn't know how long they stood there. She didn't know how long she had been sobbing. Actually, Anna didn't even know why she was crying. What she did know was that she really appreciated how Elsa wasn't saying anything. She liked how the president was simply letting her cry without question. And she especially liked how she was hugging her.

Because she couldn't remember the last time she was hugged by someone.

…

_She watched the puffs of white smoke come out of the black chimney. The little girl tightened her grip on the man's hand. _

"… _papa, will I never see mama again?"_

_And his grip on her tiny hand tightened as well._

…

"Elsa…"

Slowly, the taller girl pulled back.

What made Anna realize that it had gotten darker wasn't the lack of the bright, orange light, but it was the lack of light reflecting off Elsa's eyes. "… I'm sorry."

Elsa breathed out, still retaining that beautiful smile. She took a white handkerchief out of her breast pocket, and like a guardian—_like an older sister_ (if she had one, anyway)—she helped wipe away the tearstains lingering on her cheeks. "For what?"

Anna's puffy eyelids fluttered, "F-for… getting your jacket all dirty…" she glanced at the wet spot on Elsa's shoulder.

But Elsa didn't pay attention to it. She went on, finishing up with wiping away the redhead's tears, and then she fixed her hair—setting a few stray strawberry-blonde locks back in place. "You don't need to worry about that, okay?" her voice reassuring, "Say, are you hungry?"

Anna raised her head, rather curious that she would change the topic so suddenly. "I… um, I…"

Elsa grinned and didn't let her finish—"Oh, of course you are," she rolled her eyes and grabbed her hand, "Come on, I'll take you somewhere. There's this nice place on campus, I think it should still be opened."

Anna didn't have enough time to process the president's excitement. She did spot both their suitcases lying on the floor and managed to swoop them up before being dragged out of the room.

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There was this delightful tenderness in Elsa's touch.

Anna smiled at the thought. The entire way, she was looking at their joined hands. For many, many years now, she had been rather independent. Physical contact in general to her would always remind her of the past, when everything was _okay_, when she could spoil herself, act childish, and feel protected.

Well, right now, she definitely felt protected.

Every now and then, Elsa would turn to her and grin—showing off those sparkling white teeth.

And honestly, every time (and she counted—_four so far_) she did it, Anna could feel her heart skip a beat.

"We're here,"

Anna finally broke her gaze from the platinum blonde and looked up at the sign. "Sukiyaki… _ya_?"

Elsa nodded before spinning her head to the shorter girl, "I've always wanted to try this!"

The enthusiasm and excitement was literally oozing out of her blue eyes. Right now, Elsa resembled a five-year-old girl getting permission to enter a candy shop. Or, to put it simply, she was cute. The regal student body president, the elegant Elsa de Archis looked _cute. _Who knew she had a thing for Japanese hotpot?

"Have you tried sukiyaki before, Anna?"

She nodded nervously, "Yeah, w-well… a few years ago, when I was in middle school. So I know how it's like."

Elsa broke into another grin. "Great! Then you can teach me,"

"…?"

"I've never had it before," she looked up at the sign, "Father wouldn't give the chefs at home permission to make this for me. He says that commoner food is bad for my health," Elsa's smile made her cheeks puffy and red, "… so I'm kind of rebelling right now, eating here."

The giggle from her prompted Anna to giggle along.

"Come on, let's go in!"

… _Well, how bad could it be?_ Anna thought as she watched Elsa skip her way into the store. Finally, she found a kindred spirit in a Japanese hotpot restaurant. She took a deep breath and slid the Japanese-custom door to the side, walking into the warm light. Maybe she could finally 'fit in' to society, as sukiyaki was as 'commoner' as this school could probably get—

_Haha! Nope!_

—Anna's eyes widened.

_Well, what do you know? More chandeliers—or, uh, expensive-looking lanterns! Because, y'know, this is a Japanese restaurant, so why the hell not?_

Yeah. 'As commoner as this school could get'—_no way. _Anna wasn't even going to bother observing her surroundings; she just concluded that she was in a Japanese five-star restaurant (high ceilings, multiple tables where each had its own ventilation system and stove, and deeper inside, Anna could see private booths) eating _freaking _sukiyaki.

"For two, please," Elsa said to the waitress by the front desk.

_Oh, look. The servers were wearing traditional Japanese yukatas to match the setting! _

"Ah, what a pleasant surprise! It is an honour to have you visit our humble store, Miss de Archis. Please, right this way,"

… _but wait, none of them are even Japanese! _

"Anna?"

She snapped out of her trance. "Y-yes?"

Elsa flashed her another one of her charming smiles, "I was serious about having you teach me. I'm hopeless otherwise," she beckoned at the redhead to follow.

And Anna did so, of course, trotting closely behind. As they made their way to their table, the younger girl took notice that the restaurant itself was rather popular. After all, almost all the seats were filled by both middle and high school students of the academy, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Well, how could they not? The aroma from the bubbling pots at the centre of their tables was so sweet, so tempting—Anna couldn't wait to try some for her own.

They ended up in a fancy looking booth, their privacy ensured by shoji paper screens and a sliding door of the same design.

While Anna was busying herself with the surroundings, Elsa studied the menu with utmost interest. "Anna, do you have any preferences?"

She shook her head.

"Hmm…" Elsa pursed her lips. This was the first time Anna saw her so troubled—even more so than that day when she needed pads. "… I don't know anything in here… none of it is in English."

Anna grabbed the spare menu and flipped to a random page.

"Enokitake…? Hmm…" Elsa flipped to another page, "… what is… _negi_?"

The younger girl giggled.

"W-what is it?" the platinum blonde asked with her thin eyebrows arched, "Did I pronounce the words incorrectly?"

"No," Anna laughed, "Actually, I have no idea. But maybe we can ask for their recommendation so that we don't have to look up everything in the Japanese dictionary?"

The concern in her expression vanished as quickly as it first appeared. Elsa was now smiling and blushing at the same time.

And Anna felt her heart skip a beat again.

"… How silly of me to not have thought of that," she pressed the 'order' button installed on the wall. Within ten seconds, the same server who led them in slid the door open with a notepad and pen in hand.

"How are we enjoying this lovely evening, Miss de Archis, and Miss…" she paused, "… Irving, is it?"

Anna's eyes widened slightly. It wasn't anything to know Elsa's name, but herself? She wasn't even part of a club! How did this stranger even know…? "Um, yes. But just 'Anna' is fine,"

The waitress smiled. "Oh no, addressing such a spectacular student by name would be rude,"

"…"

Elsa chuckled, breaking the silence. "Would you care to give us a recommendation? I'm afraid neither of us know what we're doing,"

"That is quite alright, Miss de Archis. Students who come to try sukiyaki are simply experimenting—truth is, most of them do not even know what it really is," the young server leaned in to flip the pages of the menu Elsa was holding. "I would recommend the Standard Sukiyaki Beef. It has all the customary ingredients to a traditional sukiyaki pot, and it is the perfect size for two people."

"Mmm," Elsa hummed, "Anna? Would this suit your tastes?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. I'm good with anything."

Then she nodded in approval. "Very well, then. We will go with this one."

The waitress retrieved the menus from the girls' hands, "Dinner will be served shortly," and she was out of the booth.

Anna immediately leaned in, cupping her hand by her mouth to project her whisper, "I, um, don't mean to sound paranoid,"

Elsa tilted her head.

"… but how did that waitress know my name?"

Amused, Elsa breathed out, "You're a celebrity, Anna," she wrapped her slender fingers around her cup of steaming green tea, "Not many are able to make it into Arendelle with a scholarship. In fact, I think you are probably the first in thirty years."

Anna huffed, clearly finding pride in herself after hearing those words.

It really didn't take long—the server returned with a steaming black pot, where she then carefully placed it onto the stove at the centre of the table. "There you go, ladies. Here are your eggs—just crack it into your bowl and _bon appetite_!"

Anna's head spun. _French in a Japanese restaurant…?_

"Thank you," Elsa spoke out, and the waitress slid the door close. "So, we're supposed to just crack the egg into the bowl…?"

"Yep," Anna nodded. "It sounds gross, but we basically dip whatever we take from the pot into the egg."

"It doesn't sound gross," the older girl said, doing as she was told at the same time, "It sounds rather interesting. This is all very new to me,"

This girl was very fascinating, Anna decided. It always occurred to her that rich kids would be stuck-up and very unwilling when it came to trying new things, but Elsa was proving otherwise. Maybe she was just brought up in a carefree family? Shrugging, Anna cracked open her own egg and broke the yolk with her chopsticks, mixing it with the whites.

"This is actually my third time using chopsticks," Elsa confessed all of a sudden. "Although, my first time was actually a lesson. I never actually ate anything that time,"

Her interest piqued, Anna raised her head. "Then, what about your second time?"

"My first time was to practice for my second time. I was invited to have dinner at the home of the Fa family—strictly for business, so it was essential that I present myself properly."

"Huh…" she had no idea who was in the 'Fa family', but it sounded important (Elsa mentioned 'business', after all), so she nodded along.

The rest of dinner was relatively simple. Anna noticed that Elsa wasn't much of a carnivore, as she was eating much of the tofu and veggies; she herself was eating a majority of the beef. Speaking of the beef—_holy crap—_this sukiyaki beef was _nothing _like the beef she had back in middle school with her friends. This beef was precious, it was utterly _heavenly. _Like, it _melts _in her mouth! _What the hell does that?! _Anna couldn't remember the last time she had food this good.

Oh wait, she could.

Just last week, the chocolate fondue the student council made for her. Damn, she was starting to like these people, all because of food. _Ugh, I'm such a glutton. _

Anna took a spoonful of the soup base, drinking it down with contentment as she wiped her lips clean with the black napkin provided.

"Would you care for dessert?" Elsa asked, dabbing her lips with her napkin.

"Oh, no, I'm so full," Anna rubbed her stomach.

"No room even for chocolate?" the older girl winked.

She instantly bit at her lower lip, a look of distress spreading across her face. "N-no, I'm fine, really…"

Her scepticism was more than obvious. Poor girl was probably watching out for her weight—it was a common concern amongst teenagers of this age. "Very well, then. Shall we leave? It's getting late,"

Anna took out her phone. "Mmm, yeah, it's already seven forty-five…"

"I'm sorry," Elsa said, "Making you stay out like this… will your father be concerned? Maybe I can explain to him—"

"Wait, wait! Hold on," Anna waved her hands, laughing, "It's okay! Papa—I mean, _dad_ is working late shift today, so he won't be coming home until tomorrow morning. Plus, he says I'm too independent to be bound by rules, so I can basically do anything I want."

She let out a sigh of relief and softened up.

"So, should we get the bill?"

The platinum blonde giggled. "There's no need for that."

Anna gaped. Her brows furrowed—_wait, did she…_ "What…? When did you…" _OH! When she went to the washroom earlier! _"… You _didn't_!"

Elsa smirked. "I did."

"Elsa!"

Said girl giggled again, this time covering her mouth with her hand. She tried not laugh for too long, but when she opened her eyes, she found the redhead to be puffing up her cheeks, and the sight was too adorable. Elsa ended up breaking into another fit of giggles.

"Honestly, I'm the one who needs to repay a debt, here," Anna crossed her arms and grumbled. She sat back on her chair, "You got me this uniform and now you're treating me… if I didn't know better, I would think that you're—"

"—I'm courting you?" Elsa finished with a low, _almost _sultry tone.

"Ye—" her cheeks flushed red, "I-I… y-you're… well, I, um…"

"Relax," the older girl grinned. She rested her elbows on the table, intertwining her fingers together to create a bridge where she rested her chin on, "Make no mistake, you definitely are beautiful. And I admit, I am certainly interested in you,"

It happened in an instant. The mild anger she held in her chest disappeared completely—it was now replaced with a sort of dizziness. Or flutters. Or butterflies. Or… _whatever_, she was simply at a loss for words.

_Yep, I have no idea what to say. _Anna tried to make herself look as small as possible. "T-then…"

Elsa reached over to place her palm over Anna's hand. She smiled, "But all I wanted to do was to make you feel better."

Her eyes widened slightly. She looked up.

"Back in the student council room, when you were crying, I just assumed…" Elsa cut herself off. Raw, genuine concern darkened her eyes, "Perhaps working for us is too stressful?"

Anna shook her head rapidly, "No, no! I-I… I'm not stressed. Well, maybe I am, but not as much as you think," she paused to sigh. "Truth is, I was just thinking of something. Something from a long, long time ago."

Elsa stayed quiet.

"I'm fine, Elsa," Anna grinned, as widely as her cheeks would stretch. "Thanks for worrying, but I really am fine."

The older girl gave herself a moment to stare into the redhead's eyes. Yes, there was truth and honesty, but she knew _her type _all too well. That was why she gave in. "Then, Anna,"

"Hmm?"

"If you ever need a hug," her hold on the redhead's hand became firmer, "Tell me, okay?"

Anna felt the blush returning—spreading from her cheeks to her ears. Weird, though. She'd feel like hiding at times like these, but right now, she found herself grinning like an idiot.

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"Well, I'll be heading for the bus stop."

Elsa's inner brows were arched—yet again another look of concern. "Are you sure you don't need a ride home?"

Anna shook her head, rubbing her stomach, "I can use the walk after all that food,"

The older girl chuckled lightly.

She was charming to look at—_Elsa de Archis_—always smiling, laughing, and always so filled with happiness. Her charisma was almost visible in the form of her gorgeous azure orbs, her beautiful figure, and her kind personality. At this moment (the timing may be a bit odd), Anna was truly glad that she was able to know this girl—of course, not because she was the president, but because of who she was.

"Anna,"

She was going to respond, but Elsa was approaching her.

"I know you told me that you aren't feeling stressed. I also understand that you would rather focus your time on studying," she held her suitcase by the handle with both hands, in front of her hips, "But may I ask something of you?"

Anna tilted her head. She was always fascinated by Elsa's formal speaking habits. "Sure, what is it?"

Elsa straightened herself before asking, "Will you consider coming to the upcoming ball next Friday?"

Anna's jaw hung loose.

"The council members, along with myself, will be very happy if you could join us. After all, it is the first event of the year."

She looked at the ground.

"You don't have to answer me now," Elsa stated.

Slowly, hesitantly, Anna looked up to meet the older girl's gaze.

And, of course, Elsa was wearing that beautiful smile of hers. "Have a lovely evening, Anna. I'll see you tomorrow."

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**a/n: **not particularly happy with this chapter; i may come back to fix it up, but for now, PLEASE REVIEWWWWW :D


	4. the beauty

**disclaimer: **FROZEN story&amp;characters © DISNEY

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_**beyond music  
**_**(IV – the beauty)**

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_Snap_

It was the seventh time this afternoon. Anna growled and clicked her pencil a few times to push more lead out. She usually wasn't so rough with stationery, but _gosh, _was she feeling under the pressure lately. It wasn't because she had a month's worth of laundry to do, it wasn't because she had to go grocery shopping, nor was it even because she had two papers due on the same day next week, but it was because she was tasked to decide on something very, _very _extraordinary.

"_Will you consider coming to the upcoming ball next Friday?"_

Well, she still had an entire week to decide. No biggie.

_Wait._

Anna dropped her pencil and covered her head. She started scratching her hair as if a bug had been caught in it. But then she remembered that she was in a library and she shouldn't behave so much like a psycho, otherwise she'd get kicked out. So she slammed her head onto the table—_while _scratching her head. Not that that was anything _less _psychotic.

_Ugh._

She had to tell her soon! She couldn't just go, _"Oh, hey, Elsa. I think I'm gonna tag along!" _on, like, the _last _day! Plus, that'd be rude, right? To accept the invitation on the last day. That was just… what was the word? Oh, yes, _classless. _

Anna smothered her face onto the table, rolling from side to side in agony as her mind rambled on.

_What do I do… what do I do…? _

It wasn't like she _had _to go. It wasn't like she _wanted _to go, either. But… no, wait. Maybe she did want to go. Just a bit, maybe. She'd never been to these sorts of functions before. The biggest thing she'd been to was her middle school's graduation dance party, and that didn't end particularly well. No, it was _horrible_. The music sucked and all her friends found partners to dance with. Anna herself was left alone for the majority of the night. Long story short, it wasn't fun. The end.

But this. _This _was a freaking ball! Forget dancing and hanging out with people (Anna in all honesty did not care much for that), but knowing that the council was going to spend a whopping thirty-five _grand_ on just food alone sparked something inside. Call her a glutton, but how often could a human being have food worth so much?

Above all else, though…

Anna raised her head from the table. Her mind had calmed down slightly, as it was now focused on something else. That being pretty blue eyes, soft, silky platinum-blonde locks, and that sweet, _sweet _smile.

_Sigh_

And that warm hug.

Anna sat up, staring into space as she tried to relive the feeling. Unconsciously, her eyes wandered up, and it took her a few moments to realize that the girl sitting directly across from her was covering her mouth. It looked like she was covering a smile of some sort.

Tilting her head, Anna stared back.

The girl with chestnut-brown hair, still covering her mouth, raised her other hand to point to her own forehead.

Anna blinked. She mirrored the brunette's gesture, pointing at her own forehead.

The stranger nodded, a soft giggle finally breaking out.

Anna looked down at her notes—written in pencil, everything was smudged.

_Oh no._

She slapped her hands on her forehead and stood up, running straight towards the restroom. She received a couple of stares on her way, but ignored them easily because she had more important matters at hand—or, more like, on her forehead.

Bursting into the restroom, she didn't even bother looking at how embarrassing she looked with pencil marks all over her face and ran for the sink, turning on the tab and cupping a handful of water, splashing it onto her face. Anna could swear, she was wiping her forehead so hard, if she had sensitive skin, her face would be cracking. Thankfully, she had nice, healthy skin. So, no, that didn't happen. Anna pulled out some paper towels and wiped her face dry. She looked into the mirror and checked if there were any remaining pencil marks. Of course, all that was left was her messy red hair that she messed up earlier.

_Geez. The things that I do._

Anna cleared her throat. She managed to head out the restroom more elegantly than when she entered it, which was quite a phenomenal thing to do, considering how freaking embarrassed she was right now.

When she got back to her table, the brunette across was packing up. Anna couldn't shake the thoughts of how embarrassing she must've looked earlier, but she did remember to mouth the girl a _thank you_.

And the girl simply nodded, smiling—_albeit looking a tad worried—_before heading for the exit.

When the gigantic doors shut behind her, Anna heaved a sigh. Well, that was quite stupid of her. But at least she didn't break another expensive vase or accidentally tore a page out of an ancient manuscript so she'd have to repay another debt—

_Oh god, no no no no. Knock on wood._

She pounded her knuckles onto the table madly, as if her life depended on it, meanwhile ignoring the looks people around were giving her.

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"Oh no. Oh nonono…" It seemed like 'oh' and 'no' were the only words that ever come to mind nowadays.

But, like, yeah. It really wasn't smart to take a detour. Having gotten too caught up with her studying (or brooding over… a _certain _soon-to-come event), she was now late to her 'job'. She could really care less about putting up with Kristoff and his strict lessons of tardiness because she pretty much got used to his sass and rudeness in about a week, but what she _did _care about was how lost she was and how freaking heavy her schoolbag—_no, _suitcase was.

Like seriously, they couldn't provide proper backpacks. This thing could hardly carry a textbook, let alone four (which she borrowed from the library) plus her notebooks and stationery. Anna had to stuff the thinnest textbook into the suitcase and carry the rest with her free arm.

"I wish I knew where I was…" Anna muttered to herself. She felt like a construction worker, carrying bricks without the aid of a wagon or whatever because she was too poor. Which kind of made sense. Every student paid extra to get a tablet that had access to his or her required textbooks. It made everything more convenient, hence the _efficient _suitcase. Quite honestly, Anna would die for one of those, but come on, she couldn't even afford the school uniform, so forget about a tablet. Or, she wasn't going to say anything about wanting it because if she did, _Elsa _might end up buying her one.

Elsa. It just didn't make sense how that girl could be so generous when it was _her _idea to have Anna work in the student council in the first place. If Anna's job was to repay a debt, then why did Elsa keep on _giving_? Besides, it wasn't like she'd actually _die _if she didn't have a tablet. Textbooks were nice. They were traditional and everything, so yeah, no problem.

"… hm?"

Thanks to her wandering mind she had once again lost track of where her feet were taking her. When Anna came to, she found herself in front of an entrance to a hidden garden, enclosed within a building. It seemed like this building was shaped in a square, with its centre hollowed for this garden alone. Anna briefly wondered if this was the rumoured astronomy building that nobody "cared about" according to Kristoff.

"Say something…!"

Anna froze. _Whoa, an argument! _Every fibre of her body was telling her to leave, to not snoop around into others' privacy, but the bigger part of her—the _curious _part of her—held her in place. Anna stepped into the garden, hiding behind a big enough pillar and searched for wherever the voice came from.

"… do you not care?"

Following the sound of the voice, Anna found two figures—one male, one female—standing next to the fountain at the centre of the garden.

"Please, just answer me…"

Anna's eyes widened. Those two, they were…

"Adam!" the girl cried, gripping onto the tall male's elbows.

"… It's not going to work out," his voice was soft, "… the two of us. You know that."

The girl shook her head. "Then we'll _make_ it work out. We… we made _us _work out, didn't we? Surely, nothing can be more difficult—"

"Belle," Adam said calmly, "Don't you see? This is beyond our control. We… we're objects to them. Pawns. Your father thinks this way, _his _father thinks this way, and mine, as well."

Anna tucked the textbooks closer against her chest. She had some notion what the two were going on about, but what surprised her most was the fact that Adam was talking so much. This must be something extremely important to him. Actually, even more importantly, that girl, _Belle_, was she that same girl from the library? If so, she definitely wasn't her smiley, happy-self like she was earlier. Right now, she looked—_Anna squinted her eyes—_desperate, tired, but very much determined.

"There's nothing we can do." Adam finished.

Slowly, Belle loosened her grip. Her hands dropped to her sides and she lowered her head. She was trying to hide it, but her shoulders were shaking. "Then… w-what about us?"

Anna could see Adam stiffen.

Belle looked up with teary eyes. "I-I can't pretend as if nothing between us has happened. Adam, you know what I'm trying to say. You _know _how I feel. I'm—"

"Enough," his fists were balled and his eyes were shut tightly. "We can't," he muttered, "I'm sorry, but we can't."

And with that, Adam walked off.

Anna hid herself behind the pillar completely, and felt a small breeze ghost over her as Adam stormed out of the doorway of the garden. She was rather glad that he didn't see her, otherwise she'd have the most awkward time explaining. Not that Adam would stay and listen anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Anna decided to check on the other junior, even if it meant to reveal that she had been eavesdropping. _Better Belle than Adam, _was what she was thinking. Peeking out from the pillar, Anna expected to see the brunette on her knees, crying.

But instead, she found her embracing a familiar figure.

…

_Elsa…?_

There was no mistake. Tall, slender figure, and that easily distinguishable platinum blonde hair that appeared white under the sun—it really was the Queen. Anna felt an odd tang of… _something _in her heart when she saw the two, hugging that way. She sat tight and decided to observe further before taking action. Her original plan was to go out and comfort Belle or something, but Elsa was already doing that. So, there really was no point for her to go out as well. Like, what more could she do? Go for a group hug?

"Elsa…"

Anna's ears perked up.

Belle sobbed into the senior's jacket. "I… h-he…"

"Shh, shh…" Elsa hushed, stroking the brunette's back to ease her breathing. "It's okay."

"I know there's nothing we can do…" her voice was muffled into Elsa's jacket as she spoke, "… he's right, but I… I just…"

"You wished he showed more concern?"

Belle nodded.

Elsa held her closer. "But, Belle, you know how he is. He doesn't show emotion when he's stressed."

"Yes, I do know," she said.

"Both you and Adam are frustrated over this matter, that much is clear. The fact that you can't do anything about this is preventing the two of you from thinking rationally."

Belle pulled away, but refused to raise her head.

"Give it some time," Elsa continued, "The arrangement is not immediate; I recall that the two families are still in discussion?" She paused, giving the younger girl some time to digest her words, "I mean, you are still sixteen for goodness' sake," she added, rolling her eyes. "Perhaps the stakes will change?"

The sobbing had stopped. Belle was trying to even out her breath.

Elsa helped by stroking her back, "This is business after all. There are ups and downs in everything."

"Elsa…"

"Don't give up just yet," the blonde assured, wiping Belle's tears away with her thumbs. "Knowing Adam, I know he hasn't, even if he looks so depressed right now. Just give it some time."

The senior's beautiful smile was infectious, Anna knew from experience. That was why she wasn't surprised to see Belle smiling back so soon.

"I'm sorry," the brunette said, sniffing, "I-I must apologize for being such a wreck…"

Elsa chuckled lightly. "Don't worry about it. It's better to cry on a shoulder than to cry alone."

Belle smiled. "Thank you, Elsa," she took a deep breath. "I… I really don't know what else I can say. If you weren't here, I would've…"

"Please don't tell me you would've killed yourself."

"Wha—no! Of course not!" Belle exclaimed. "I was going to say, I would have gone to my father and be rash about the matter. That would have been imprudent."

Elsa responded with a smile of her own.

"But I think you're right. I need some time. To cool off, at least," Belle paused, "Thank you for lending me your shoulder."

Elsa breathed out with amusement. "Anytime. Will you be heading back to the library?"

"No, I…" the brunette chuckled, "I just came from there, actually."

The senior raised a brow. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," Belle said, giggling. "Just remember seeing something cute there,"

Anna's cheeks flushed upon hearing that and she mentally slapped herself on the head.

Elsa tilted her head, curious.

"I'll be heading home now," Belle changed the topic. "It… it's been a long day."

Elsa nodded. She understood that the girl wanted some time alone. "Come speak to me if things get too out of hand," she said. Right when Belle was going to say something, Elsa cut right in, "… and don't you worry about Adam. I won't bother him too much about this."

Belle smiled. "Thank you."

They waved each other a goodbye, and Anna was somewhat surprised that they didn't curtsey. _Like, they both looked like royalty, so why not?_ But then she saw Belle heading for the exit, which she was beside, and remembered to hide behind the pillar again. As Belle approached, Anna pressed her back closer against the cement, scooting farther along the circular pillar. It wasn't until she made half a rotation around the pillar when she realized that she was exposed—to _Elsa. _

Said girl had her arms crossed, an eyebrow raised and was staring blankly.

And Anna was still holding onto her textbooks and suitcase, mouth agape and eyes widened.

"What are you doing?" Elsa asked in the most _normal _tone ever.

Like, she couldn't tell whether she was pissed off or not. Anna swallowed. "I… I, um…" _improvise! Improvise!_ "… was… w-was just leaving! Yes! I was just getting outta here! Now, then—" she readied herself for the sprint of a lifetime.

"Ah-ah-ah," Elsa interrupted, "… not so fast."

"…" Anna's feet stayed put but turned around, facing the president.

Elsa sighed. She walked towards the redhead. "Here, let me help you,"

_Wait, what?_

Teal eyes widened in confusion, no longer in fear, Anna didn't realize that the weight in her arm had lessened until a few moments later. "Wait, no, Elsa! They're heavy!"

"That's why I'm helping you," she said. Securing the encyclopaedia-sized books in her arms, Elsa headed for the exit. "Shall we?"

"W-we…?"

"Head back to the council room."

"Oh! Um… y-yeah!" Anna stuttered. Her head turned about, and as if her brain cells were clumped into chunks of _stupid_, her legs knotted together as she spun around.

"Anna!"

_Of course_ she dropped everything. _Of course _she fell ungracefully. And _of course _Elsa saw the entire thing.

"Ohhh man… ow, ow, ow…" she rubbed her bottom. Lucky it was her bottom and not her face.

"Are you okay?" Elsa asked, kneeling down beside her and placing the books down.

"I'm fine, I'm fine…" Anna said. "Just… just a little winded."

The blonde breathed out. "You heard everything?"

"Well, I…" Anna paused, surprised that she could change the topic so suddenly. Her eyes shifted to the corner, "… I got lost," she turned back to Elsa, "I swear I didn't mean to eavesdrop! I mean this campus is _huge! _I was trying to find my way, really! But then I wound up in here, and—to be honest, I don't even know what building this is, and I—"

"Anna,"

Said girl stiffened and stood as straight as possible. "Yes!"

"I believe you," Elsa assured, "So please calm down."

Anna blinked. "You're… not mad?"

"Why would I be?"

"Well, I… I should've left when I had the chance, but I stayed and listened…"

"As have I."

Anna grunted. "You were on the other side. Escaping would've been harder for you…"

Elsa chuckled. "No, trust me. I stayed to listen."

Arching a bemused brow, Anna stared at the Queen, her jaw slowly hanging agape.

Sophisticated. Calm. Graceful. And… _nosy_?! Who would've known?

"Hey. Stop looking at me like that," Elsa narrowed her eyes. "This is high school. Drama of all sorts interests everyone and anyone."

"Including the president?" Anna deadpanned.

"_Especially _the president. I'd like to have you know that I'm also human and am a teen, thank you very much," she huffed.

Anna bit her lower lip to hold back a giggle, but she ended up snorting.

As if that sound was a trigger of some sort to her laugh box, Elsa immediately let out a giggle of her own. "I-I'm sorry…" she covered her lips with a delicate hand.

_Yep, _that sound Anna just made was quite ugly… and if this person weren't Elsa, she would be puffing her cheeks out to show anger. Thing was, this person _was _Elsa. Who could possibly get angry at her? She was pretty, compassionate, kind, and… _did she mention pretty_? Right now, all Anna could do was blush. Oh, and stare like an idiot. Seriously, there was absolutely nothing else she could do. Because Elsa's giggling sounds were cuter than her own by a _hundredfold _and she actually looked _adorable _when she was trying so hard to hide it.

_Ugh. How is it even possible to be so cute? Elsa can't be human._

Anna's mind would still be coming up with these questions, had Elsa not suddenly fall silent. She looked up just in time to see Elsa lowering her head. The blonde was staring at an opened textbook, dropped earlier on the cobblestone floor.

Elsa reached for the book, fiddling with the corner of a page using two fingers. "Anna…" she started.

Instinctively, Anna looked to the page Elsa was playing with. She could see the title—_Chapter Two: Negligence_—nothing important. So her eyes shifted back to Elsa's.

"… what are your thoughts on arranged marriages?"

Her eyelids fluttered in a rapid speed. The question came at her like a bullet; it was unexpected, sudden, and most of all, _random_. "Uh… er," she cleared her throat, still trying to get her head straight. "It's… well, I… have never actually even thought about marriages, let alone arranged ones…"

Elsa smiled, her attention still on the thick textbook. She flipped a few _stacks _of pages.

Anna swallowed.

_Chapter Fifty-seven: Prenuptial Agreement_.

"Maybe I _am _nosy," Elsa started out of the blue, she raised her head, finally looking Anna in the eye, "But I… I'm concerned for them."

"…"

The blonde turned to the fountain, at the spot where the couple had been standing earlier. "They've been through so much to finally _be _together, but now…" she gritted her teeth, "… I just wish I could do something."

Anna saw Elsa clenching her fists—so much to the point that her knuckles shook and turned white. It was a reflex of some sort—Anna then reached out, for whatever reason, placing her palm over one of Elsa's hand, gently gripping it to bring her back.

And it worked. Elsa spun around, finally relaxing when she met the freshman's concerned gaze. "I-I'm sorry," she apologized right away. "I… just can't stand seeing things—_good things_—crumble down. Adam and Belle, they… they used to be so perfect together. They really went through a lot."

She was genuinely upset, Anna could see. After all, the smiling, happy Elsa was now a frowning, upset Elsa. And it was frustrating because just last week, Elsa was able to comfort her. Elsa didn't know what was happening, nor did she know why she was crying, but she was able to comfort her. Anna wanted to do the same—she wanted to comfort her, she wanted to help, she wanted to see her smile.

"Let's help them."

The bold statement made the blonde jump. Blue eyes wide, she stared at Anna, too shocked to give a response.

Anna instantly realized how abrupt and, _mind you, _rude she was being, but she pressed on. "I don't know how, but let's help them."

"Wh…"

"Look, they love each other, right?"

A hesitation, and then Elsa nodded.

"Then there we go! If it's true love, nothing can pull them apart."

Elsa struggled between keeping her jaw from hanging too loose to grasping the context behind those words. Yes, Anna's meaning was simple, but no, it was too simple to actually _have _any sense. "I know you mean well, Anna," she said, "But you have to understand, in our world, sometimes we… we don't have a choice."

"Choice…?"

Elsa sighed. "This may come to surprise you, but we don't always get to choose when to marry, or to whom we get married to. For some of us, that power is in the hands of our parents," she said. "In our world, arranged marriage is seen as an agreement, a means to prolong or reinforce both family's name."

Anna's inner brows arched upwards.

"It may be too traditional, unfair, or you can even say barbaric," she lowered her voice, "… but that's the way it is. We, children of such authoritative people are merely seen as pawns."

Her grip on Elsa's fist loosened. Despite having a fountain running, birds chirping, and the soft breeze blowing in the background, their shared silence was ground-breaking. It was unpleasant and unwanted.

But then Elsa made a move. She lifted Anna's chin, making the latter face her. "Don't worry," she said, moving her hand to the girl's shoulder, "I said _some _of us. Not all parents agree with such medieval traditions," she finished with a wink.

Anna could feel the blood drained out of her tiny little heart, gushing upwards like a geyser to her head, and then finally escaping at the roof in a puff of steam. Trying to hide her tomato-red flushed cheeks, she snapped her head down, but ended up bumping her forehead into Elsa's nose.

"Oh, no! I-I-I'm so sorry! I…"

Elsa covered her nose, and—

_Oh no oh no oh no oh no. Oh god no._

—_tears _slowly prickled out of the corner of her eyes…!

_I made the president cry. I made the Queen cry. I made ELSA cry!_

"E-Elsa…?"

The girl in question sniffed.

_OH NO OH NO OH NO_—

She, on the other hand, had a hard head. That impact wasn't enough to even faze her. So all she was concerned about right now was Elsa. Elsa. _Elsa. _"Elsa, please, let me see if you're okay—OH MY GOD."

A trail of blood rolled out of Elsa's button nose.

_I MADE ELSA BLEED!_

"UH, UM… h-hold on!" she scrambled to reach for her suitcase, pulling out a packet of tissue paper. Fumbling with the seal clumsily, Anna finally got it to open and she literally yanked a piece out. "Here…" she pressed the soft fabric against the blonde's nose, preventing the blood from dripping anywhere. With her free hand, Anna held onto the back of Elsa's head, stabling her so that she wouldn't move.

It didn't seem like she was going to, however.

Right now, Elsa was staring at her. The tears threatened to roll down those pale cheeks, but it seemed as though Elsa was using all of her _resolve _to stop it from happening.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry…" Anna whispered. "P-please don't cry…"

"…"

She shifted her eyes downwards, at anything but Elsa's tear-stained eyes. "You can't cry…" _Oh god her voice was shaking_. "I don't…" _I don't want to see you cry…!_

Elsa reached up, gripping Anna's wrist gently. "Hey," she whispered, her voice nasally thanks to her nose being pinched, "Anna."

Said girl stiffened, still too scared to look the senior in the eye.

"It's okay," Elsa assured. "It's a reflex."

Anna flexed her jaw.

"We automatically tear up when we get hit in the nose,"

Finally, she looked up.

Elsa greeted her with a smile. "If you think I'd cry from this, wait till you hear my story about last year's volleyball tournament."

Relief washed over her like a tidal wave. She stared, waiting with anticipation for Elsa to go on.

And said girl rolled her eyes with amusement. "A player from the opposing team spiked the ball right in my face. I fell backwards from the impact and landed on my head pretty hard. I, uh, ended up waking in a hospital. Took a few weeks for that concussion to fully heal, but even so, I was put on benches for the rest of the year."

Eyes wide, Anna had to make an effort to close her mouth. "Wh… y-you mean, you couldn't play for the rest of the year?"

"Yep. And it was only February."

"That sucks…"

"Mhmm," Elsa nodded. "So, unless you give me a concussion and put me out of both presidency work and volleyball games, I won't cry."

Anna gulped. And, _darn it,_ that was quite audible. She was broken from her trance when Elsa took the tissue out of her hand, dabbing the bloodstained material against her nostrils.

"On a brighter note, at least I'm not bleeding anymore," she said, dabbing the tissue on her nose a few more times to make sure.

Elsa was obviously trying to ease her guilt, Anna could tell. But it wasn't like she was going to mope around when the victim herself was letting it go. So she went along, laughing it off. "If you feel woozy, be sure to get it checked…"

"If I faint," a chuckle, "You can catch me," Elsa said. "But thank you, Anna. I'm fine now."

Anna smiled.

In the background, the sounds of the chiming clock tower overpowered that of the fountain's flowing water and the chirping birds. The two girls let the chimes finish—_five times_—before returning to their inevitable conversation.

"Elsa,"

"Hmm?"

Anna clenched her fingers together, crisscrossing, intertwining, and fiddling with them. "Are we really not going to do anything?"

Elsa took a deep breath, but didn't immediately exhale. "I don't know."

And Anna watched as the blonde shifted her attention back to the fountain once again.

.  
.

_Tuesday. Lunch time. Twelve o'clock. Seventy-two more hours and I still haven't told Elsa. _

Most of her classmates had left the room. Being here nearly half a month now, Anna realized that rich people were kind of similar to normal 'commoners' (she rolled her eyes to that thought); lining up to buy lunch in the cafeteria was probably a universal concern—most likely because people wanted to avoid the line.

_Oh well, _Anna thought. That was why people packed lunch. Not only did it save the trouble of lining up, but it also saved money.

Her mouth began to water as she dug through her suitcase. After all, she did prepare herself a tasty chicken croissant this morning—

"…"

_Crap._

She made the croissant, but she didn't _put it in her stupid bag! _Anna could picture her lunch, sitting on the kitchen counter. She slapped her forehead. Now she could picture a flag standing on it, saying '_eat me'. _

"Ugh," she grunted, as if telling her brain to shut up because she was pissed off and hungry and that was probably the worst combination in the entire world.

_Grrrr_

Oh great. Her stomach was being a bitch to her as well. She folded her arms across her abdomen and bit her lip, nibbling it because she was _hungry_ and maybe just by doing that, she'd get distracted. She still ended up contemplated, however. Should she go down to the cafeteria and buy a bun or something? Because there was absolutely no way she could survive the last two periods without some food in her system. Knowing herself, she'd probably end up falling asleep…

She let out a deep sigh. _Fine, whatever_. It wasn't like she had anything better to do in the next hour, anyway. Plus, she'd never seen the school cafeteria before, so why not? Though, it might just look as extravagant and palace-like as any other freaking room in this crazy school, anyway.

.  
.

Lo and behold, the high school cafeteria, just as Anna had imagined. It was an elegant dining hall, with the ceiling extending as high up as the ones in gyms. The windows surrounding the upper half of the room matched gorgeously with the blue sky that was visible from this greenhouse-like environment. If Anna wasn't so hungry, she'd spend a bit more time admiring the impressive architecture, but right now, she had to line up. Luckily, it didn't look like it would take too long. Rich people must have their ways of preparing food more efficiently, Anna figured.

"Anna," a voice behind her said.

The deep, mellow, familiar voice. She spun around, "… Adam!"

The tall male nodded once.

"O-oh, hey!" she stuttered. An image of him and Belle from yesterday flashed across her mind for a hint of a second, but she quickly shook it away. "Um, you, uh… buying lunch?"

_Ugh. Of course he is buying lunch. What do you think, working out? Jeez, Anna._

Adam nodded again.

Anna swallowed. "That's… nice."

"…"

"…"

_Sigh. _There really wasn't much to talk about with this quiet boy. Then again, it wasn't like Anna wanted to make conversation anyway, after seeing what had happened yesterday. Adam might not be in a good mood, and with her unstoppable rambling, she might end up pissing him off. So she turned back around, facing the line once more.

…

"Stop it!" a girl's voice.

It wasn't immediate, but the sound of the chatters in the dining hall slowly died down. Anna herself shifted her attention to the source of the cry, and realized that Adam, who was right behind her a second ago, had disappeared. Curious, Anna left her position in the line and headed towards the commotion. A group was apparently forming around whatever was happening.

"I don't want—"

Anna wasn't the strongest to push through the crowd, but she _was _small enough to slip through.

"Now, now, you have no reason to be so aggressive…"

_Gee_, she sure was nosy.

"Please, Gaston, I…"

Finally, Anna got through. Slipping out of the crack between two students, she got her front row seat.

"I'm only asking you to be more affectionate with me, _Belle_," the dark-haired boy said. "What's wrong with showing your fiancé a bit of love?"

"I already told you, I'm not interested—"

He grabbed her shoulders, "We are going to get _married_, Belle! It's something worthy of a celebration, do you not agree?" Gaston wrapped a bulky arm around the brunette's slim waist, drawing her a bit _too _much to his proximity. It was quite apparent that the girl in question wasn't comfortable at all.

Anna looked around her—_why wasn't anyone doing anything?! _Everyone was just… just _watching _like this was some reality TV couple-argument… thing! How did these kids live with themselves being so freaking selfish?! A-and where were the teachers?

"All I'm asking is for you to join me for lunch. Is that too difficult for your highness, hmm?" He asked, leaning into the girl.

Belle pulled back, as far as she could manage.

T-this was borderline sexual harassment. Belle didn't want this, she was saying _no _like a thousand times now, but this idiot-macho-dude was still being a tenacious little _dick! _"Hey!"

The two turned to her.

…

Utter silence.

… _oh. Ooooh crap._

Anna gulped. Quite loudly too, by the way. But like, whatever, she already stepped in, might as well continue. "S-she…" she swallowed the stutter, "… doesn't like what you're doing to her."

"…"

_Welp. I guess I'm on my own. _

While Belle gave her a look of horror—_or was it concern?—_Gaston simply raised a bemused brow.

"Oh?" Gaston released Belle.

_Huh. _Anna noted mentally that this boy was kind of like a dog. One minute, he was entertained, fixated with a person, and now that a stranger had appeared, he'd completely forgotten about his old 'toy'. _Wait, did she just brand herself as a 'toy'? _Anna shook her head. _What the hell._

"And who might you be, little girl?"

_Stand tall, Anna. Stand-freaking-tall! _"Anna," she said. "And who are _you_?"

Note, this guy was probably almost two heads taller than her. Kind of like… between Kristoff and Adam's height? But wait, more importantly, did she really just do that?

"Who am _I_," Gaston repeated, stressing his tone on the final word. "You don't know who _I _am?"

Again, stress on that word. Anna rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't be asking if I knew, would I?"

Some giggling could be heard in the crowd, and Gaston narrowed his dark brows. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and made his way back to Belle. Acting as if he were unfazed by the tiny redhead's taunt—_if he could call it that, _he wrapped an arm around Belle's shoulder again, this time actually _hauling _her towards himself. "Well, _Anna_, perhaps you should educate yourself of the _important_ family names before actually attending this school. Or is your family too ignorant to pay heed to the Bouchard family, hmm?"

Clearly pissed off by now, Anna stomped forward. "I'd like to have you know that my family isn't ignorant. And no matter how _important _of a family you come from, it does not give you the right to bully people."

"Bullying?" Gaston smirked. He pulled Belle closer, "I'm sorry, I was just being intimate with my fiancée. Is that so wrong?"

"And your fiancée clearly doesn't like it," Anna pointed out. "Look at her!"

He wasn't going to drop that fake, arrogant smirk of his, but he did stiffen a little. Gaston turned to Belle, "Do you not like this?" he asked, grinding his voice.

Belle lowered her head. She ignored him, but looked to Anna, "Please, I know you mean well, but please don't get involved with this."

He clucked his tongue. Grabbing her by the chin with two fingers, he forced her to face him. "You don't look away from me when I'm _talking to you._"

_Enough was enough—_"Hey, stop! You're hurting her!" Anna stepped up, pushing the boy away from Belle with all her strength. It wasn't like she enjoyed playing hero. It wasn't like she had a natural heroic side to her, either. It was just… there. A reflex. Anna just jumped in because… well, because she couldn't hold back any longer.

Mostly startled by the sudden force, it took Gaston a brief second to realize that he had been pushed back. When he came to, however, Anna could see a different glow in his eyes. An eerie, threatening sort of glow.

"How _dare _you?!" he roared, his voice echoing in the now-silent hall.

Anna stood her ground. She didn't know martial arts or anything to defend herself, but, come on, face it—running wasn't going to get her anywhere. This guy was massive! Sure, she was quick on her feet, but she sure as hell wasn't going to play tag around the campus with him.

So she waited. For an impending punch or kick or perhaps even death. Whatever. Gaston was reaching for her—_her neck_—Anna braced herself—

"No!" Belle's voice.

—a hand clasped onto Gaston's wrist from the side, pulling his entire body downwards. The momentum was so strong that Gaston himself nearly lost his balance and fell face-flat onto the floor.

Anna blinked at her saviour. "Adam…?"

The green-tie junior stood casually; one hand in his pocket and one hand still holding onto Gaston's wrist. He turned to Anna, giving her another one of his trademark blank expression before shifting his attention back to the bully.

"Wha…" All the commotion had obviously winded Gaston—if not just slightly, but he regained his stance. "… Archibald?!"

Adam stood tall.

Gaston's brows were knitted together. If this were a silent movie, Anna would have it so that he was growling in this scene, but as of now, in reality, he was actually grunting. "Belle's matters are no longer yours to care."

"I understand that," Adam answered right away. "This isn't about Belle." He released his wrist.

Gaston quickly applied pressure to the ache.

"You were about to hurt a friend of mine," Adam said.

_F-friend…?_ Anna was kind of touched.

Gaston broke the moment, breaking into a light chuckle—a forced one, by that. He was, in fact, glaring at Adam. "_Hurt_? Ha!" he snickered, "Why in the world would I hurt such a lovely young lady?" Gaston glanced at Belle, and then at Adam. The two had this condescending look on them and it made him feel so _small_. It was irritating and was eating at him and _god damn it he couldn't lose._ So he turned to Anna and reached for her head, but then the girl slapped his hand away. "Oooh, so aggressive," he said, feigning a look of hurt and he turned to Belle, "Just like my _fiancée._"

Even Anna could tell, the emphasis on the word was for Adam to hear. Thank goodness she knew the backstory, otherwise she'd feel like an innocent bystander in this situation. Well, technically, she already _was _an innocent bystander, but, like. Y'know. She knew what was going on. So this _kind of _concerned her… maybe?

It seemed like the pseudo-fight wasn't going to progress any further, and to ensure this, Belle stepped in between the boys. Holding her arms out to separate them, she made sure to stay closer to the more dangerous Gaston. "That's enough," she said lowly, "You've gotten enough attention for the day."

Gaston, bursting with pride because Belle went up to him and not to Adam, straightened his posture. Once more, he wrapped an arm over Belle's shoulder. "Come on then, Belle," he leaned down to place to whisper into her ear, "Let's eat together, somewhere away from these savages."

Savage. The word was directed to her.

Anna clenched her fists. And before she could help herself—"You're so dead if you mistreat her, you bully."

He chuckled. The students automatically created a path for him and Belle as they approached. "I'd like to see how _dead _I'd be, girl."

_Ugh, that smug look. _If Anna was a bit stronger, she would… she would _so _punch his gigantic chin so hard that it'd become concave…!

Not long after the two exited the dining hall, the rest of the students went back to their businesses. Some returned to their tables, some went back to the line-ups. Anna just couldn't believe that they—_all of them—_just stood there when a girl was getting harassed. Anna put claim on this earlier; yes, she wasn't a hero, but no normal person could bear to watch an innocent girl getting bullied like that. Back there, Gaston was beyond cruel. He was downright abusive! Yet—

"Anna,"

"What." She grunted. Then, she blinked. Looking up, she found Adam staring at her, finally dropping that indifferent expression for one or _slight _surprise. "I-I mean, sorry. I didn't mean to be so rude, I just…"

He shook his head. "It's fine."

She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly lowered her head and drooped her shoulders. She really shouldn't speak anymore. It seemed like every time she did, things would just get out of hand.

"Are you okay?"

"H-huh?"

Adam flexed his jaw. "… Are you okay?"

Anna blinked. "I… I'm fine."

An awkward silence. Well, not complete silence. The dining hall had resumed to its original state, before the commotion happened, but what Anna meant was that they were standing in an invisible aura of awkwardness. It was weird. Like an awkward-type of weird.

"… I'll…" Adam started, his voice softer than usual, "… buy you lunch." And before Anna could give him an answer, he walked towards the line-up.

Standing dumbfounded, it took Anna a full thirty-seconds to realize: Adam was thanking her. Adam was _awkwardly _thanking her! A burst of confidence came from the very centre of her chest. This a progress, an advancement, a wholly _evolution_!

_She had to tell Elsa about this—_Anna thought as she trotted towards the line as well.

She had to tell Elsa that she made up her mind. Whatever it took, Anna was going to help, because—_simple_—Adam was friendly. Adam was heroic. Adam was concerned.

All for Belle.

This was the definition of true love. And Anna believed that true love was worth saving, no matter what the costs.

.  
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* * *

**a/n: **sorry this took so long! i intended to update more during the summer, but my internship got extended, so i'm just squeezing in my free time to write. on another note, thanks to all your reviews/favourites/alerts! hopefully you guys are still with me!

as you can probably tell, this story will focus on many of the other disney couples. their stories serve as important plot device for elsa and anna's relationship to build. so, yes, it will be slow, but if you stick around, maybe you'll find it to be worth it?

anyway, if you're not into the slow-development-type of stories, check out my other elsa/anna story: _godsend_. it has all the romance and angst and smut you may like. fair warning, though, it is **extremely **dark.

in any case, i'll see you guys soon. cheers!


	5. the confrontation

**disclaimer: **FROZEN story&amp;characters © DISNEY

**a/n: **thanks for all your favourites/follows/reviews so far! in return, i give you protective!elsa, badass!elsa, heroic!elsa, a hint of daredevil!elsa, AND cute!elsa, all in one chapter.

.  
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* * *

_**beyond music  
**_**(V – the confrontation)**

* * *

.  
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Apparently, news spread quickly around Arendelle Academy.

By the time she returned to her classroom, she had gone from being the commoner-no-one-cared-about to 'The Saviour'. Swarmed by her classmates, the looks she received were pretty mixed—some patted her on the back, telling her _good job_ and such; some just shook their heads at her and told her to _be careful_. Anna figured they meant that she should be careful of Gaston in case he decides to jump her or something… but, come on, if he really does jump her, then he'd get in trouble. Anna hadn't messed with anyone since the school year started (nor had she messed with anyone in the past, on that matter), so if something bad were to happen to her, people could easily figure out who the culprit would be.

She held onto that thought for the rest of the afternoon.

Come end of the day, however, when she finished packing up and was about to head to the council room—

"Anna!"

She was greeted by her _fellow _employers at the doorway. Well, just two of them.

"Herc and… Kristoff?"

The former greeted her with a bright smile, while the latter didn't even bother to spare her a glance. She made her way over to them and could see at the corner of her eyes that several of her classmates (females, mostly) were _swooning_. Like these two were good-looking supermodels or something.

"Are… you guys picking me up?" Anna questioned, tucking her suitcase close in her arms.

"Yep. Queen's orders!" Herc said, still grinning.

Kristoff, on the other hand, was scoffing. "Come on, Herc. Stop wasting time, this is already enough of a hassle."

Anna shot her eyes at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"

The blonde shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing," he said, "Let's just hurry back to the council room."

"Right you are!" Herc stood straight and saluted. He then turned back to Anna, bowing like a gentleman before gesturing at her to walk on ahead, "After you, my lady."

Anna was actually able to drop her frown immediately. Yes, Kristoff was an ass, but at least Herc was a sweetheart.

.  
.

Though Herc managed to crack a few jokes on the way to the room, alleviating the heavy tension that Kristoff seemed to be giving off, when Anna entered the room, she found that the atmosphere had completely shifted.

Shifted to something heavily-uncomfortable, that was.

Well, first of all, Adam was absent. That usually wasn't much of a deal, since he didn't talk much in meetings anyway, but given the events that had happened this afternoon, shouldn't he be around to… at least… vouch for her for… whatever was going to come (and Anna knew that _whatever_ it was would probably be bad)? And then there was Eugene and Rapunzel—both of whom would usually run to her with demands of food and whatnot by the time she'd stepped half her foot into the room. Now, they were just standing. Eugene with his arms crossed with his brows just _slightly _arched and Rapunzel with her hands clenched at her front, looking somewhat sympathetic.

Anna swallowed.

And then there was Elsa, standing at the centre of attention, glaring at her. Those usual, soft blue eyes were now sharp and… _scary_.

"Do you know what you have done?" The Queen questioned with a low voice.

Anna jumped. She tried to appear small. "I…"

"Do you know what you've gotten yourself _into_?"

"…"

Elsa was raising her voice, "Do you know what could have happened to you, jumping in like that?"

"Elsa…" Rapunzel called out behind her.

But the Queen didn't stop to respond. In fact, she went on, now literally scolding the redhead like her guardian. "You could've been hurt!"

"…"

"Had Adam not stop him in time, you would've…" Elsa paused. There was a small hesitation in her voice, as if she didn't know what to say next, but she persisted, dropping the original sentence all together, "Listen, Anna, I know you wanted to help, but—"

"But _what_?"

Elsa blinked.

Anna raised her head, glaring at the taller girl straight in the eyes. "I didn't do anything wrong. I only did what I thought was right."

"…"

She took Elsa's silence to her advantage, going full-on with a comeback, "What do you expect me to do? Stand there and watch as that guy _abuse _her? Then there wouldn't be a difference between me and him!"

A look of shock. "… That's not what I'm saying," Elsa rebutted, "Of course I don't mean you should stand there and do nothing. In fact, I'm grateful that you were able to protect Belle, but—"

"Then I didn't do anything wrong!" Anna interrupted, raising her voice. "Given the circumstances, jumping in was my only option. It wasn't like a teacher was conveniently around, and you can forget about asking for help from those useless students who were just spectating, by the way. _Nobody _was going to do anything."

Just for a bit, just _slightly_, there appeared to be a hint of hurt in Elsa's expression. It disappeared faster than it came, and Elsa was already clenching her fists, "You don't understand, I… I'm—"

By then, the volume of her voice had gotten so high that Rapunzel jumped in. Much like how Belle separated Adam and Gaston in the afternoon, she pushed Elsa lightly and turned to hold onto Anna's arms. "I think this is enough, girls," she said calmly. "Maybe we should all calm down first before taking this conversation any further?"

Anna was glaring, and seeing that, somehow, something inside Elsa sparked. Like a fire. A sort of anger. And then she turned her back on the shorter girl, scoffing. "There's nothing to talk about," Elsa said, crossing her arms again. "If she doesn't see the fault in her actions, then it's pointless carrying this on."

Her heart dropped. Anna felt as though she had been punched in the guts, and suddenly, she felt a gush of blood shooting out of her chest into every nerve in her body. It was an electrifying feeling—it was hot and cold and irritable and frustrating _as hell, _all at the same time—"Fine," she grunted. "I'll be going home, then. I'll make up the hours tomorrow or something. Now if you'd excuse me." And then she shoved Rapunzel's arms off her and headed out the door.

There was a small sound of the door closing with a _click_, and that was it. The room seemed to have gone into stasis soon after. Well, save for the rapid eyeballing between the members, everything else was unmoving. More like, nobody dared to move. Eventually, everyone directed their gaze at the president, whose back was still turned. The boys had this silent pact, though. All of them shifted their eyes to Rapunzel at the same time, and said girl blinked at first before giving them a pleading look. And if a look could speak, it would sound something like, _"No! You guys do it!" _

Then the guys' look would say, _"This is too high level for us!"_

And Rapunzel would roll her eyes, replying with, _"You guys are useless." _

Finally, the guys would agree with her by nodding eagerly, and then they would point at Elsa for Rapunzel to tell her to _"Hurry up!"_

So Rapunzel rolled her eyes again and took a step forward. There really wasn't much to say, she knew. Elsa didn't need much convincing when it came to logic and reason. In fact, the president probably made up her mind already, all she needed was a little push. Rapunzel cleared her throat to get her attention. "Elsa,"

A sigh.

_Oh, look._ She was already convinced. Rapunzel breathed out, stepping beside the taller girl and then placing a hand on her shoulder.

Elsa turned slightly to her secretary—concern written all over her face. "Rapunzel, what am I doing…?"

Rapunzel knew that giving her a direct answer wasn't necessary, so she pointed at the door, tilted her head at its direction and smiled. "What _are _you doing?"

And with that, Elsa gave her a look before running out after Anna.

.  
.

She kicked at the autumn leaves, red and yellow showered the pathway colourfully. The tall oak trees that grew well over many buildings on campus were aligned down the road in perfect symmetry. Anna usually found this part of school to be most comforting—_one, _obviously because it was beautiful, and _two, _because it was the way to the bus stop. Well, none of that mattered right now. She was pissed. _Why _was she pissed though? She didn't really have an explanation. Like, _Elsa_ and she were just talking, right? Then_ Elsa _kind of raised her voice, right? And then _Elsa _said that 'there was nothing to talk about', right?! This was something completely petty. Anna had had more intense arguments with group mates who screwed up their parts in projects in the past, so this really was _nothing_! So why? Why was she so freaking pissed?

"Ugh! Stupid! Stupid! _Stupid_!" Anna kicked at the leaves in her path. Right then, a gust of wind came by and a few pieces of the leaves flew particularly high, smacking her square in the face. "Pleh!" Anna spat, brushing the dry leaves off like they were insects.

Slowly, the pieces drifted onto the ground, rejoining their fellow brothers and sisters. And Anna felt that emptiness all over again.

_Emptiness_.

Emptiness? Yes, that was it. When Elsa spoke to her like that, the blood left her heart—it wasn't really anger. It was like… a piece of her heart was taken away.

Anna heaved a sigh.

Too late to do anything about it now. Or, more like, there wasn't anything she could do about this. Might as well go home, shower, eat something, and do some studying. Anna gripped onto the handle of her suitcase tightly and walked on, down the empty road. In her short time here, she found out that very few students from took the bus. Most of them had their expensive rides and personal drivers, and that was why she would rarely run into people on this road.

… Which meant that it would be quite weird if she were to run into more than one person in this path. So… yeah. It would be even weirder if, say, she were to see a _group_ of guys.

And right now, she was seeing… three or… four of them? They were coming from the other end of the path, heading towards her. They were laughing and shouting and making noises. They were also dressed in casual, everyday-clothes. Most importantly, Anna could tell—judging by their appearance, they were most definitely not Arendelle students.

The group was fast approaching her, and Anna didn't know what else to do but to keep her head down and continue walking.

_Maybe they'll ignore her—_

"Oh, what do we have here?"

—_of course not._

Even if they were teens, they were all pretty massive, towering over Anna by at least a head and a half or more.

"Aren't you a pretty one?" The dark-haired one of them said.

Anna swallowed. She would run, but they already had her surrounded in a circle.

Then another one of them patted her head and tousled her hair. "Are you all alone, little girl?"

Trying to stand as tall as she could, Anna pushed his hand away defensively. "Please stop," she mumbled.

"What's that? I didn't hear you."

They tried to touch her hair again, and Anna could only shove their hands away defensively.

"Whoa there!" One of them said. He was evidently not as bulky as the other three, but he still had that daunting jock-physique. "We know you're eager to play, but you gotta calm yourself,"

Anna snapped her head up, but before she could say anything, one of the teens grabbed her by the collar, nearly lifting her off her feet. _God, do people like this really exist in the world? _Anna would be rolling her eyes if she weren't so overcome by fear. She had long dropped her suitcase and was digging her nails into the boy's fists, scratching at it desperately. "Let go!"

But it was pointless—"The little girl's so rude," another one—_Anna could no longer tell the difference between the four—_spoke to the rest of his gang, "And here I am, just trying to make friends with her…"

"Maybe we can take her home and teach her some manners?"

Anna widened her eyes. She scratched harder, wriggling and squirming about—hoping that by simply moving, she would somehow be able to break free. "Stop it! Let go of me, you jerks!" Her tiny self was lifted off the ground completely now, and right when she was going to get hauled over the bulky boy's shoulder like a piece of lumber, she managed to strike a blow at his crotch.

A painful and surprisingly girlish squeal followed right afterwards.

Anna was dropped onto the ground, and thinking fast, she pushed through a crack between two of the boys, preparing herself for the sprint of her lifetime.

But of course, her attempt was futile. She was grabbed by the back of her collar, being stopped once again. It made her choke, it made it difficult to breathe, but she kept on trying—"Let go! I said let go of me!" She waved her arms wildly to stop the boys from touching her. It worked for a while, though, until two of them held onto her wrists and had them interlocking at her back.

The boy who got kicked was struggling to stand up. He was hunched over and had his legs pushed together. It seemed like Anna's blow was more than painful, as tears were very much welling up in his eyes.

"Dude, stop screwing around!" The skinny jock barked, gripping onto the redhead's wrist so tightly that he was sure he was bruising her by now.

The injured one snapped his head up. "S-shut the hell up… ugh, god…" he took small steps towards the redhead and without warning, he grabbed her by the cheeks, forcing her to face him. "You little bitch…" he choked out.

Anna whimpered. She tried to turn her head away, but the boy held on tighter—so much to the point that her jaw and the muscles in her neck started to ache. This was all so frustrating. If only she were stronger. If only she could do _something_. She gritted her teeth, holding her breath in her throat and she glared.

"Come on, enough with this bullshit. Let's just take her back and get this over with." The one who seemed to be least occupied said. He was standing in the back, behind the injured one.

"Get _what _over with?"

The four of them turned to the sound. Anna could only shift her eyeballs to the source as her head was held up.

"…"

Anna's heart leapt with joy. "Ad—_ugh_!"

"Shut up!" The injured one shifted his attention to Anna briefly before turning back to the spectator. "The hell do _you _want?"

Adam, as usual, had his hands in his pockets and his expression blank. And just as usual, he didn't hesitate. "Let her go." He spoke in a demandingly-soft tone.

The boys holding onto her arms from behind chuckled. "Seriously?" They tightened their grip, making Anna whimper in pain. "And if we don't?"

She could only see Adam's expression change from blank to irritated, and then the junior was sprinting towards her, pushing the injured one off and then proceeding to pull her away from the two that were keeping her arms tied up.

"Stay behind me," Adam said.

Anna blinked. She looked up and realized that she didn't have to, because she was already being shoved to stand behind him. She peeked out from his back, observing closely for any sudden movements from the dangerous teens.

"Hey man, stay out of this!" One of them warned.

Adam narrowed his eyebrows.

"This isn't about you, so mind your own business!" Another added.

"Then who is this about?" Came a new voice.

Anna spun around. If she didn't know who this person was, she would have shivers running down her spine from the sheer coldness of that voice. Thing was, she _knew _that person. "Elsa…"

She ignored Anna. Not even sparing a glance, she walked up to stand beside Adam. Elsa crossed her arms and eyed each of the boys sharply before continuing, "I asked, _who_ is this about?"

The boys shifted their gaze uncomfortably at each other. Their lack of coordination created an obvious tension amongst the group, yet it was easy to see—they were too stubborn to give in. "Who are _you _to talk?!" One of them spoke up, trying to stand as tall as he could.

Elsa shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes. "You know, we're not going to get anywhere like this."

"Shut up, bitch! Get the hell out of the way unless you—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Is that any way to talk to the Queen?" A voice above them all spoke out. When everyone (minus Adam and Elsa) cranked their heads back to look up, Eugene took the cue to go on—with a smirk, of course. "We can't allow that now, can we?"

Anna's eyelids fluttered. _H-how did he get up there…? _She didn't have the opportunity to ask, however, as another voice soon joined in.

"I'd say, it's treason of the highest order." Came a boyish voice.

Looking behind her once more, Herc and Kristoff were standing where Elsa was earlier. Herc was grinning as always, and Kristoff in his usual scoffing expression.

"Then what do you suppose we do, _oh-great-Hercules_?" There was excitement brimming in Eugene's voice, and Anna found that to be kind of odd, given the situation at hand. Were these guys treating this as a game? Someone could get hurt!

Herc walked forth and so did Kristoff, making their way semi-circle around the group of boys and stopping right across from Adam, Elsa, and Anna. Needless to say, the teens were trapped. If they wanted to run, they would have to get past Herc and Kristoff, and that didn't seem ideal as the two were obviously more built than they were. And then there was Eugene, sitting on a branch of a tree above, ready to jump down anytime need a fight break out. It was a done-deal; they were outnumbered and would most certainly get beaten up by these athletic-looking rich kids if they tried anything funny. The four teens came closer together, their backs touching as they silently plotted their exit route.

Seeing their fear, Elsa heaved a sigh. "Look, we don't want any trouble. Just tell us who sent you, and we'll let you go," she stepped forward. "You couldn't have gotten into the campus without permit, yes?"

"Your Grace—" Kristoff from the other side began.

Elsa cut him off by raising a hand. She mouthed an _it's__ fine_ to him before continuing, "If you would just tell me—"

"Nobody sent us!" The skinny one said, his voice firm. "W-we… we were just wandering around and snuck in. And even if we were sent by someone, you think we'd tell you?!"

For someone not as big in size as his friends, he sure had a big mouth, Anna thought. Though, he sure as hell didn't have a big brain.

Eugene above broke into a chuckle. "Ah, I feel sorry for you guys," he waited for them to look at him, "Your friend with the big mouth is quite stupid, isn't he? Giving you guys away just like that."

The boy who got his crotched kicked by Anna snapped his head towards the skinny teen, "Would you be quiet?! Aren't we already screwed enough?!"

"… And I'm telling you," Elsa said, "You won't get _more _screwed if you would just cooperate with us."

The dark-haired one tapped them both on the shoulder. "Come on, guys… we really don't have much of a choice anymore…"

The two closer to Elsa turned slightly to shoot him a glare. They stood tall and firm, but Anna could see—their hands were shaking. They were having some internal conflict. Should they root the culprit out, or should they stick to their (rather stupid) plan and do whatever it was they wanted to do. Speaking of that—

"What exactly do you guys want?" Anna walked past Adam and stood beside Elsa. "Clearly, it has something to with me, doesn't it?"

The four avoided her piercing teal eyes.

"A student from this school sent you to attack me," it wasn't a question. Anna simply laid out the statement with no form of doubt. "Is his name Gaston?"

"We don't know what you're talking about."

"Huh, I'm impressed," Kristoff said, crossing his arms. "Never seen such persistence before. Don't know if you are really brave or really stupid."

"Probably more so the latter," Eugene laughed.

Anna ignored their jokes. She took another step—

"Anna," Elsa tried to stop her, but she herself was stopped when the girl raised a hand—the same way Elsa did to Kristoff.

"Like they said, if you would just tell us the truth, everything will be okay. They'll let you go, and you can pretend as if nothing has ever happened." Anna lowered her voice. She believed that she could coax the four into siding with her by becoming less hostile. Perhaps she should have done that earlier when they were attacking her?

The dark-haired teen spoke out once again, tapping the injured one only on the shoulder this time. "Hey man, come on… there's nothing more we can do…"

Anna met eye contact with the dark-haired boy. She gave him a small smile as a sign of gratitude before shifting her attention back to the injured one. It seemed like he was in charge, and had she known that earlier, she would've kicked one of the other three to—_who knows?—_make things easier? Perhaps then this assumed-leader could be persuaded more easily. "So… what do you say?" her voice was softened into a whisper by now.

He raised his head, looking blankly into Anna's teal eyes with his own black ones. It felt like a minute or so, because Anna had the time to hear and feel a soft breeze blow by completely without being interrupted, and she could even make out the tiny scars than ran across the boy's nose, eyebrow, and cheek. Three scars. _Hm. Must be a delinquent who runs into fights every so often. _

His shoulders finally slackened, and Anna was about to beam a smile at him, but then his eyes sharpened again—in literally a blink of an eye. Her brief moment of ease was quickly invaded by a sudden rush of surprise; Anna saw the boy pull something out from his back pocket, and she acted quickly to leap backwards. Her peripherals allowed her to see Kristoff and Herc rushing forward, and she knew they'd be too late to stop this boy, but then she felt a pull by the arm from behind—

"_Anna_!"

Everything turned black, and it wasn't because she died or anything. It wasn't because she closed her eyes either. In fact, her eyes were wide open—they were just covered by…

"Elsa!" Adam's voice.

A weak yelp was heard. Anna blinked several times and her senses came back. She could feel a pair of arms wrapped around her head. And that was when she realized that Elsa was holding her; she was in _Elsa_'s grasp and she was being shielded by _Elsa_.

"A-Anna…"

She pulled back, snapping herself out of her trance.

Elsa raised her head, but it was evident that she was struggling to keep her speech coherent. "Are… are you okay?"

"I'm…" Anna couldn't finish. The blonde suddenly couldn't stand anymore and she fell—"Elsa!" She cried, catching her just in time. She supported the blonde's head with her shoulder while circling her arms around the latter's waist before getting down onto the floor. The blonde let out an agonizing groan, and when Anna turned to ask if she was okay again, she found blood on her hands. "E-Elsa! You're bleeding!" she cried, quickly reaching into her pocket to pull out a handkerchief. She pressed the cloth into the blonde's back. It seemed like her shoulder blade had taken the blow.

"Anna…" Elsa whimpered, "Are y-you…" she pulled back, looking into the redhead's crystal orbs with concern, "… are you okay?"

Anna bit onto her lower lip. She didn't know what it was, but the urge to cry had never overcome her this greatly before. She nodded eagerly and pulled Elsa back in to her embrace. Here Elsa was, taking the blow for her, bleeding out, yet she was still worried over someone like herself. Anna gritted her teeth. She looked up, and if her fellow schoolmates weren't already doing it, she would be beating the _crap _out of these assholes.

"Elsa!" This time, a girl's voice.

Anna didn't bother to turn her attention to it, because she couldn't bear to let Elsa go. She did feel the girl kneel down next to her, however.

"We have to get you to the infirmary—"

"Rapunzel…" Elsa interrupted with a raspy voice. The pain was getting to her, but she pressed on, "… you got everything, right?"

A huff. Rapunzel was probably rolling her eyes. "Yes, Elsa, I caught everything on camera. In fact, it's sending to your lawyer as we speak." She looked to the commotion. "They're probably not going to run anywhere… seeing how our boys are taking care of it. I just hope that they don't beat them to death," she commented. "Come on, let's get you up. Anna, can you help me?"

Anna didn't speak and only nodded once in response, still holding Elsa securely in her arms.

.  
.

"It's all my fault…"

Rapunzel, sitting beside her on the hospital bench wrapped an arm over her shoulders. "Hey, it's okay. This isn't your fault. If anything, those guys are the ones who should be blamed."

Anna shook her head. "But if I…" she had to backtrack for this one, "… if I didn't… i-if I hadn't run off like that in the council room, then none of this would've happened."

Rapunzel heaved a sigh. She rubbed at Anna's arm. This entire ordeal had gotten the younger girl's body temperature to drop. "If I chose to wear tights instead of socks today, I probably wouldn't have been late for my first period,"

Anna looked at her blankly, more or less confused.

The golden blonde rolled her eyes. "Terrible comparison, I know, but the point is," she sat closer, "Things happen, and we can't do much to stop them. Say, if you actually stayed in the council room after going through that… argument… should we call it?" Rapunzel didn't wait for Anna to respond, "… Then you would've gone home late in the evening, and you would've been by yourself! Adam probably wouldn't have shown up, and—"

"And Elsa wouldn't have gotten hurt…"

"No, no!" Rapunzel grumbled, "I'm saying that something worse could've happened! To _you_!"

"But Elsa…"

"Anna," the older girl's smile cut her off. "Trust me, this is nobody's fault. It most definitely isn't yours, okay? Gosh, if something _did _happen to you, I don't think Elsa would be able to forgive herself."

Anna lowered her head and fiddled with her fingers.

"It's going to be fine," Rapunzel began, "Besides, she's been through worse,"

_What? _Anna whipped her head at the secretary, her braids swaying with her sudden movement. "W-worse…?"

Chuckling, she moved her hand to stroke Anna's back, easing her tenseness. "She's gotten a concussion from volleyball before,"

Anna nodded once. "Yeah, I've… she told me about that one."

"Oh really?" She quirked an eyebrow, clearly amused by her statement. "Then has she told you about the time when she dislocated her hips from ice-skating, or when she nearly broke her neck snowboarding? Oh, and then there was that time when she nearly drowned surfing in Hawaii," Rapunzel added. She continued to rub Anna's back and smiled. "The point is, Anna, this is _nothing _compared to all those incidents. So don't worry, she'll be fine."

"…" Anna would have questioned on the reason for all those injuries, if her jaw wasn't dropped. Thing was, those sports were relatively safe, are they not? Okay, not so much for snowboarding and surfing—but it really depends on how extreme one would go for them, right?! And how does one dislocate his or her hip while _ice-skating?_

Just then, the door to Elsa's room opened. The doctor was the first to come out, followed by a nurse. Anna shot straight up and ran to them and nearly grabbed the doctor's arms, had she any less self-control. "How is she?"

The doctor smiled in response. "Do not worry, Miss de Archis is fine. The wound wasn't deep, but she still needed a couple of stitches."

"Is it possible that we go in to see her?" Rapunzel asked.

"Of course," the doctor said, "Miss de Archis went through the entire process quite calmly. Anaesthetic was not even required by her request. In fact, she may leave the hospital any time she pleases."

The two girls sighed heavily. Rapunzel nudged Anna on the arm, sending her a wink. "See?" She turned back to the doctor. "Then we'll be going in."

"Please," the doctor said, giving way to the girls.

Rapunzel burst in to the room before Anna could register what was happening, and she was left standing at the doorway while the nurse and the doctor excused themselves.

"_Your Graaaaaaace_!"

"Rapun—_ack_…!" Elsa, in the process of sitting up, was thrown back onto the bed from her secretary's surprise embrace. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Rapunzel, m-my back…!"

"Oh!" The golden blonde shrieked, "Sorry! I'm so sorry, I forgot!" she said as she helped her friend up, "How are you feeling?"

Elsa shrugged. "It stings a little, and I'm going to have trouble taking showers for a while… but other than that, I'm fine."

"Can't believe that guy actually had it in him to attack _you_, huh?"

"Well, to be fair, he doesn't know who I am." Elsa said, reaching behind herself to feel the large bandage covering her wound. "Where's Anna? Is she okay?"

Rapunzel giggled. She pointed to the door, "Ask her yourself."

The first thing Elsa did when she saw the redhead was grin. And Anna, just for the _smallest moment_, felt lightheaded. It really was infectious, that much was established; she couldn't help but to smile back, no matter how forced it felt. Maybe it had to do with the fact that those bangs of hers were no longer swept back and were framing her face so perfectly? Actually, Anna didn't know—_freaking everything _was amazing about Elsa. Even if it was just a slight change in hairstyle. Taking a deep breath, Anna walked through the threshold, stepping into the room and towards the bed, beside Rapunzel. She inhaled once again—

"Elsa, I—"

"Anna—"

They spoke out at the same time and stopped at the same time.

"G-go first," Anna said, after an awkward moment of pause.

Elsa shook her head, "No, you can go first."

"No, really, I…"

"Oh my goodness," Rapunzel face-palmed. "Can you two just hug it out or something? This is so frustrating to watch." She pushed the redhead onto the chair right beside the bed, and then dragged it forward until Anna's knees touched the side of the bedframe, trapping her in place.

While Anna struggled to hide her blush (and to get herself out because she was _too close to Elsa_), Elsa broke into a fit of giggles, not without blushing herself. "I… wanted to say that I'm sorry," she said.

Anna arched her inner brows upwards.

Elsa brushed a strand of her platinum blonde hair behind an ear before going on, "I shouldn't have approached you that way. I-I didn't mean to speak to you so loudly, I just…"

It was obvious even to Anna—Elsa was trying her hardest to push the words out.

"… I was just worried about you." She finished quietly.

In her peripherals, Anna could see the corner of Rapunzel's lips arching. Not in a creepy way, of course. Anna figured that she was simply smiling because… _well, how should she put it? _Because of happiness? Because she was entertained? Or because she was somehow—_as much as Anna was—_touched by Elsa's kind words? Anna placed her bets on the last possibility.

Elsa raised her head, meeting Anna's soft gaze with her own. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something were to happen to you,"

Anna's eyes shifted to Rapunzel for a hint of a millisecond, catching the golden-blonde grinning like an idiot (by now), and it seemed like her gaze was screaming _I told you so_ to her. Anna shook away the thought and looked back to Elsa. "I…" she exhaled, gathering herself together. This was important. She couldn't stutter. The Queen of all people was being sincere and honest and nice and protective, all for her right now. She had to do this right. Anna stepped forward, kneeling down by the bedside and took Elsa's hand into her own. "Thank you," she whispered, looking up to meet the azure crystals. "And I… I want to apologize as well."

Elsa smiled in return. She placed a palm on the girl's head, smoothing any stray hairs in place.

There was a sudden lightheaded-ness that washed over her. Anna could just as well pass out right there from Elsa's gentle touch, but _no, darn it, _she shook her head to go back on topic, "… I'm sorry I lashed out at you like that. Papa—I mean, _dad_ always told me that I lose my temper quickly whenever he gets protective, so I guess… that kinda translated here…?" She looked up but lowered her gaze again when she found Elsa, still smiling in understanding. Anna knew very well that she wasn't going to get anything out of her head if she kept looking at the Queen. There was just something so hypnotizing about those blue orbs. So she picked at her fingers, looking at everywhere else but Elsa. "I'll… try not to do it again."

A breath of amusement. Elsa moved her hand down to cup the redhead's cheek, her warm touch making the younger girl jolt in the slightest. She opened her mouth to speak—

_Knock knock_

The trio in the room immediately turned, and while Anna simply tilted her head in curiosity, Rapunzel standing beside her straightened her posture, stepped a tad away from the bed and bowed.

Anna noted that she had never seen anyone act so swiftly-polite, _ever. _

"Good evening, Mr. de Archis." Rapunzel greeted.

"Miss Astrum." The man spoke back.

_Oh, wow. The formalities as well. _Anna nodded to herself with admiration. Not bad. Rapunzel sure had a… _wait. Wait a second. 'Mr. de Archis' was what she said, w-which… meant—WAIT. _Widening her eyes, she gawked at the man. _Oh of course, how stupid could she get?! _They didn't have much of a resemblance, but… _but he was…! _Anna shot straight out of her chair. She was in no position to be the only one sitting—

"Father!"

Anna spun around, and that gentle expression Elsa had on earlier was replaced with one of sheer joy. Her eyes were bright and smile was wide, displaying her white, pearly teeth. The paleness in her cheeks was replaced with a rosy, healthy colour. Elsa pushed the sheets off and jumped off the bed, passing by Anna and Rapunzel so swiftly the two girls could feel a small breeze brush by.

"You came to see me," Elsa said, stopping just before she crashed into the man. Anna could almost hear the smile in her words.

Elsa's father, though not as bulky-looking as the likes of Adam and Kristoff, was still quite tall himself. If she had to compare, Anna would think that the man had Eugene's healthily-lean figure. And for a man who seemed to be in his late-thirties to look so young and fit, Anna figured that he must be somewhat of a health-nut. Still, looking at him now—_in that charming black suit_—it didn't seem like Elsa got much of his looks. His eyes were grey-blue, Elsa's were pure azure blue; his hair was styled in a very gentlemanly-fashion—combed nicely over his head with wavy bangs covering a bit of his forehead, but the colour wasn't Elsa's amazing platinum blonde. Perhaps Elsa looked more like her mother?

"… Of course I did," the man answered, resting a hand over his daughter's head.

Elsa grinned wider, her eyes closing into thin lines as her father gently tousled with her soft mane.

His daughter's soft giggles brought a smile over his face. But as quickly as it came, the smile was soon replaced with a more serious expression. "Elsa, what have I told you about being reckless?"

The platinum blonde rolled her eyes. "To _not _to," she answered monotonously. "But—"

"I know, I know," he cut in. "I am well aware of the situation."

Elsa heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, father."

He quirked a brow. "What for?"

"I… I wanted to deal with this before it became a bigger issue than it has become."

Folding his arms behind his back, the man gave his daughter a sympathetic look. "The student body president cannot possibly handle every single problem in the school. Moreover, that is not of your concern. Violence in the school has to be dealt with by adults."

"Speaking of adults," Elsa said. She turned her head slightly, catching a certain redhead at the corner of her eye, "… father, would it be funny if I told you that the teachers of our school are really incompetent in terms of dealing with violence?"

"Oh?"

Elsa cleared her throat. "Just this afternoon, a student was being harassed by another student. It stirred quite a commotion, yet none of the teachers came to stop it."

The urgency in Elsa's voice lifted an imaginary weight off Anna's chest. So Elsa _did _care after all. She just wasn't rash about it—unlike herself.

There was a pause, and then the man exhaled deeply. "I am aware of that, as well." He stated, "But Elsa, in that situation, it was merely impossible to interfere. The harasser was a Bouchard. On top of that, he is the eldest son."

"So that justifies his actions, then?" She clenched her fists, "Father, is that what you are implying? That was his_ fiancée _he was harassing!"

"I am not implying anything, Elsa," he said strictly, his posture firm and unchanging. "Committing such unsightly acts is wrong, indeed, and yes, Mr. Bouchard should be punished for such. However, it is not my say to discipline another father's child."

Anna could see, Elsa's shoulders were shaking by now, and she understood exactly _how_ angry she was.

"Having said that,"

Elsa looked up.

"The actions that Mr. Bouchard has done today, which includes hiring thugs to attack a student of Arendelle Academy, and _my _daughter—on top of that—has gathered him a certain amount of attention. Yes, the Bouchard family is powerful, but they have grown to become powerful because of the strict upbringing of their children."

… _Then why is Gaston such a spoiled jerk? _Anna wondered.

"And therefore, I can assure you he will… how should I put it?" He looked up at the ceiling, "… Ah, 'get what he deserves.'"

Slowly, the familiar smile broke away the dark expression Elsa had. His daughter was a naturally happy person, he knew, so it was never difficult to make her smile. "So… does that mean… Belle…?"

"That I do not know," her father answered, folding his arms behind himself again. "After all, the arrangement is solely made between the Bouchard's and the Leclair's. Whether or not they decide to break ties and cancel the marriage will most likely depend on the latter's choice. Is their company's future more important, or their daughter's?"

Elsa lowered her head. "… Any parent would choose his or her child's future over anything…" she murmured.

It was like something struck Elsa's father. Anna could see that the man literally jumped upon hearing Elsa's words, but that pain-stricken face was quickly replaced—_forced over—_by a happier one. "Yes," he placed a hand on Elsa's shoulder, "Any parent who loves his or her child."

She raised her head again, and this time, she was desperate. She was _desperate _to tell her father something, because Elsa was tensed up. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Her expression was overcome with anticipation, and then as if enlightened by false hope within that small moment, it was replaced disappointment, and if Anna could get a full view, she would be able to see how hard Elsa was trying to communicate, to _really _communicate with her father about something. The scene was confusing to describe or interpret, on that matter, and hoping that she could get some idea from Rapunzel, Anna looked to her with curiosity, but only received a sad glance in return.

"Elsa…" the man spoke, placing his other hand over her shoulder as well, "I—"

"… 've punched all his teeth out!" —Eugene.

"That would've been messy…" —Herc—"But then again, it was quite satisfying to teach those guys a les… OH!"

Everyone in the room turned to the doorway.

"M-Mr. de Archis!" The orange-haired boy greeted.

"Good evening," the man released Elsa and faced the boys, "Mr. Ignis, Mr. Fitzherbert,"

The two boys stayed outside the room, "We hope we're not interrupting…"

"Oh, not at all," he folded his arms behind his back once more. "I was just leaving,"

Anna saw Elsa's shoulders drop. It looked like she was sighing.

"I have a flight I must catch, otherwise I will not be able to make it to the meeting tomorrow afternoon." He said, straightening his red striped tie. Then, he turned to his daughter, "Rest well, Elsa. I will be seeing you soon."

She nodded once. "Yes, father."

Silence filled the room, and although Anna felt rude for not greeting Elsa's father when she had the chance, something more important was at hand, here. It was like nobody dared to talk when the man was leaving, and that was true in a sense, because after he left the room, there was an evident shift in atmosphere—it was like everything got _lighter_. Not as heavy. Even so, everybody still had this concerned expression over their faces. Elsa, especially, seemed lifeless. Zombie. Frozen in place. Whatever—_just _something along those terms.

Rapunzel was the first to act. She walked towards Elsa and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. Bending down slightly, she looked up at the Queen from below, "Hey,"

Took a moment, but Elsa blinked away the grimness from her eyes. "Hmm?"

Rapunzel grinned. "Come sit back down. Your father told you to rest up, right? Don't want him to worry."

Elsa forced a smile. "Yeah," she whispered, and let the golden blonde lead her back to the bed. "But I'm fine, though," she said, sitting on the bed. "The doctor said I could leave anytime."

"Then I'll call for your driver. Might want to bring you some new clothes too." Rapunzel said, flipping her phone out of her pocket.

Anna watched as the secretary punch in some numbers into her phone, and, realizing that she hadn't really made herself useful for the past ten minutes, removed her jacket, draping it over Elsa's shoulders.

Elsa blinked at the redhead.

And Anna simply smiled in return. "Gotta hide that battle wound. The school's going to go crazy if they see their president with a bloody cut on her back,"

Elsa's lips arched upwards. She rested a hand over Anna's, on her shoulder. The warmth from the younger girl mingled with her own, and her eyes were filled with life again. "Thank you, Anna."

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**a/n: **why all the latin names? well, latin automatically makes things sound classy. the most logical explanation you will ever get, right there.  
anyway, thanks for reading as always! remember, your reviews are my greatest source of motivation!


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